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CHICAGO 
PAST AND PRESENT 



A MANUAL FOR THE CITIZEN, THE TEACHER 
AND THE STUDENT 



History, Government, Officials, Their Duties and Sal- 
aries. Also County, State, and United States 
Government Officials of Special Interest 
to the General Public. 



BY 

S. R. WINCHELL 



ILLUSTRATED 



• > 

» . » 



1906 
FLANAGAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO 



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UBRARY of CONGRESS J 

Two CoDiw Received 

MAR 16 f 906 

^ Copyrigirt Entry 
CLASS a. XXc. No. 

If ^ oH c G 

f COPY B, 



COPYRIGHT 1905 

BY 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 



CONTENTS 



Preface ...... .... 5 

1'he History of Chicago — The Name — LaSalle's Prophecy — 
Topography — How the Marsh was Removed — The Chicago 
River— -Discovery of Chicago — First Settlement — John Kin- 
zie — Fort Dearborn Massacre — IlHnois Becomes a State — 
Chicago Begins to Crow — Great Land Preaty with the In- 
dians — Phe Wolf-hunt — Causes of Growth — Phe First Rail- 
road—Illinois and Michigan Canal — Drainage of the City — 
Drainage Canal — Phe Great Fire — Phe Anarchist Riots — 
Columbian Exposition — Railroad Riots of 1894 .... 7-37 

The City Government 38, 39 

Legislative DEPARTxrENT — Phe Mayor — City Council . 40, 41 
Executive Department — General Government — Mayor and 
City Clerk — -Law Department— Department of Finance — 
Civil Ser^'ice Commission — Election Commissioners — De- 
partment of Supplies — City Art Commission — City Market 
— Special Park Commission — Department of Track Eleva- 
tion — Bureau of Statistics 42-o8 

Public Safety — PoKce Department — Detective Bureau — Bu- 
reau of Identification — Bureau of Records — Municipal 
Lodging House — Vehicle-inspection Department — Construc- 

; struction Department 59-68 

The House of Correction 69 

i The Fire Department 69 

The Building Department 72 

The Health Department 74 

The Inspection Department 79 

Pounds and Poundmasters 80 

The Board of Examining Engineers 81 

Public Works — Bureau of Engineering — Bureau of Water — Bu- 
reau of Sewers — Bureau of Streets — Bureau of !Maps and 

Plats 82-101 

Board of Local Improvements 102 

Department OF Electricity — Bureau of Municipal Lighting — 
Bureau of Fire-alarm Telegraph — Bureau of Police Tele- 
graph — Bureau of Electrical Inspection — Bureau of Gas- 
lighting and Repairs — Bureau of Automobile License . . 103-108 

3 



CONTENTS 



The Board of Education 109 

The Judicial Department 117 

Various City Ordinances 120 

Fares for Hacks and Cabs 124 

Tabular View of City Government 126 

The New City Charter 129 

Taxation in Chicago 130 

Chicago Institutions and Industries — The Parks — Monu- 
ments — Libraries — Art Institute — Municipal Art League — 
Public School Art Society — Coliseum — Street-railways — 
River Tunnels — Schools and Colleges — City Directory — 
Newsboys — Electricity — Telej)hones — Gas — Chicago Relief 
and Aid Society — Chicago Bureau of Charities — Illinois 
Humane Society — Theaters — Weather Bureau — Life-sav- 
ing Stations — L^nion Stock-yards — Ship- building — High 

Buildings— The Tunnel 183-187 

Chicago's Commercial Interests— The Board of Trade— The 
Lumber Business — Shipping Interests — Clearing-house — 

Federal Building— Post-office .188-197 

Some of the Leading Features of Chicago — Statistics of 
Roman Catholic Church — The Wonderful Growth of Chi- 
cago — The Languages of Chicago — One Day's Events in 
Chicago — Chicago's Greatness — Non-partisan Political As- 
sociations — Charitable Organizations — Social Settlements 
— Cemeteries — Location of Railroad Depots — Museums — 
Fountains — Lighthouses — Other Interesting Facts — Gov- 
ernment Offices — State Offices — Illinois National Guard — 

Independent Military Organzations 198-216 

Chief Events in the History of Chicago 217 

Cook County — Divisions of the County — County Court-house .218-220 
Government of Cook County — County Commissioners — 
County Clerk — Recorder of Deeds — County Treasurer — 
Coroner — Sheriff — State's Attorney — Coimty Superintend- 
ent of Schools — Jury Commissioners — County Surveyor — 
County Attorney — Superintendent of Public Service — 
Civil Service Commissio:. — Board of Review — County Arch- 
itect — Courts of Cook County — Cook County Charity Work 
— Outdoor Relief — County Hospital — Institutions at Dun- 
ning — United States Courts 221-237 

Some Interesting Facts and Figures - 238 



PREFACE 

It has not been the purpose of the writer of this 
volume to present an exhaustive treatise on Chicago, 
but rather to mention the most important events in 
its most remarkable history, and to set forth briefly 
the leading features of its present condition and gov- 
ernment. These facts are of interest to every citizen, 
and many of them are required to be taught in the 
public schools. 

The book may be used as a text-book or for refer- 
ence, and should be followed by a more exhaustive 
study of Chicago as it is, if one wishes to learn all 
about the great city. No one book can describe ade- 
quately its great industries, its commercial, social, 
religious, political, and educational life, its streets, 
buildings, railroads, new^spapers, etc. These must be 
studied and seen at first hand, and it is suggested that 
teachers should make trips with their pupils to the 
City Hall, the Stock-yards, the Drainage Canal, the 
Water-works, the Fire-engine Houses, the Lumber 
District, the Harbors, etc., and make a special study 
of these places, and the many departments of the 
city's life and activity, or have their pupils make such 
trips and report what they have seen and learned. 
Nothing is more interesting to young people than the 



PR E F ACE 

study of things about them, and in these days of in- 
dustrial training in the schools, the same methods and 
aims may well be applied in teaching the practical and 
vital facts of civil life in all its departments. 

It is scarcely necessary to say that the facts set forth 
herein have been gathered from various publications, 
from the annual reports of the several departments of 
the city government, and by personal investigation. 
For courtesies shown the writer by heads of depart- 
ments and others in his efforts to obtain the latest and 
most authoritative information, he would here express 
his thanks. 

Chicago, December 1, 1905. 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

The Name 

Many theories have been given to explain the origin 
of the name " Chicago." The one generally accepted 
is, that this name was given to the place by the In- 
dians, and is derived from the Indian name for wild 
onion, or, as some claim, from the Indian name for 
skunk (seganku), so illsmelling were the odors which 
arose from the marshy region in its early days. 

Dr. William Barry, first secretary of the Chicago 
Historical Society, says : '' Whatever may have been 
the etymological meaning of the word * Chicago,' in 
its practical use it probably denotes strong or great. 
The Indians applied this term to the Mississippi River, 
to thunder, or to the voice of the great Manitou. 
Edward Hubbard, the genealogist, adopts a similar 
view, and says that the word ' Chicago,' in its appli- 
cations, signifies strong, mighty, powerful." 

La Salle's Prophecy 

A remarkable prophecy, said to have been made by 
the explorer La Salle in 1682, in a letter written to a 
friend in France, is recorded in Gale's Reminiscences 
of Chicago, This prophecy is as follows : 

7 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

"After many toils I came to the head of the great lake and 
rested for some days on the bank of a river of feeble current, now 
flowmg mto the lake, but which occupies the course that formerly 
the waters of these great lakes took as they flowed southward to 
the Mississippi River. This is the lowest point on the divide be- 
tween the two great valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mis- 
sissippi. The boundless regions of the west must send their 
products to the east through this point. This will be the gate of 
empire, this the seat of commerce. Everything invites to action. 
The typical man who will grow up here must be an enterprising 
man.^ Each day as he rises he will exclaim. 'I act, I move, I 
push,' and there will be spread before him a boundless horizon, 
an illimitable field of activity; a limitless expanse of plain is 
here— to the east water and all other points of land. If I were to 
give this place a name, I would derive it from the nature of the 
place and the nature of the man who will occupy this place— a^o, 
I act; circum, all around: Circago." 

Mr. Gale then adds : " The recollections of this state- 
ment, imparted to an Indian chief, remained but in- 
distinctly, and when the Americans who built Fort 
Dearborn came to these wilds, they heard what they 
thought to be the legendary name of the place, and 
pronounced it as did the Indians, Che-ca-go, instead 
of Circago, as La Salle had named it. 

" Gladly among the brilliants of that prophecy do 
we find the jewel of our name. By the Circago of 
La Salle, in its transition from the Latin circum ago, 
through the ' Che-ca-gou ' of the Pottawattomies, to the 
'Chicago' of to-day is forever banished the 'wild- 
onion ' and the ' polecat ' theories with which unfeeling 
nomenclators sought to blast us. 



THE HISTOR Y OF CHICAGO 

"Let us be thankful to the gifted Frenchman for 
giving us a name so in harmony with his remarkable 
prediction and with the characteristics of our city and 
people.'' 

Topography of Chicago 

The land now occupied by the city of Chicago was 
formerly covered by the waters of " Lake Chicago." 
These waters were the product of glacial action, and 
united with the waters of Lake Michigan after the 
retreat or destruction of the glacier. The entire region 
of country from Winnetka on the north, extending 
in crescent form southwestward through Galewood 
and La Grange, then southeastward to Glenwood and 
Dyer, and then northeastward to Lake Michigan in 
Indiana, constitutes what is called the Chicago plain, 
which was left after the disappearance of Lake Chicago 
into Lake Michigan. 

The greatest width of this crescent plain is about 
fifteen miles. On the west and south it is bounded by a 
glacial moraine ridge with a rolling surface from twenty 
to one hundred and forty feet above the level of the 
plain. The Desplaines River, the Illinois and Michigan 
Canal, and the Drainage Canal cut through this mo- 
raine on the southwest of the city at the level of the 
Chicago plain, and furnish the outlet for the drainage 
of the city, carrying it off through the Illinois River 
and the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. 

9 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Below the surface of the plain, at distances varying 
from a few inches to about one hundred and thirty feet, 
lies a bed of Niagara limestone. This solid rock is 
covered with clay, sand, and bowlders, constituting 
what is known as " drift." The average depth of this 
drift is thought to be about forty-five or fifty feet below 
the level of the lake. Exposures of the limestone may 
be seen at Stony Island, Hawthorne, Bridgeport, Elm- 
hurst, and Lyons. Exposures of the drift may be 
seen along the lake bluff north of Evanston, along the 
Drainage Canal, and in the various brick-yards of 
the city, such as that west of Lincoln Park near the 
North Branch, and that near South Robey and Forty- 
third streets. 

The general features of the land around Chicago 
are prairielike, there being comparatively small areas 
covered by trees or raised above the level of the plain. 
There are picturesque bluffs along the lake shore north- 
ward, and elevated ridges farther inland, formed prob- 
ably by the glacial drift or the action of running water 
or waves in prehistoric times. 

South of the city is Lake Calumet, which seems to 
have been left as the remnant of a former submerged 
section, covering several thousand acres. The entire 
region around this lake is level, with here and there 
a spot where the sand has been piled higher by the 
action of winds and waves. 

The Region a Marsh. — Originally, the whole region 

10 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

where Chicago now stands was a low marsh, and ap- 
parently least suitable of all possible sites on Lake 
Michigan for the building of a city. In many places 
the mud was so impassable that signs were put up in 
the streets, reading " No bottom here ! " These same 
streets are now built up and paved in the most mag- 
nificent style. For several miles to the south, the land 
was actually covered with water from one to three 
feet deep a great portion of each year. This land, 
which was then not worth a dollar an acre, is now 
valued at several thousand dollars a square foot. 

How the Marsh Was Removed. — The land origi- 
nally was only seven feet above Lake Michigan, though 
about six hundred feet above sea-level. In 1855 the 
legal level for building and paving was raised seven 
feet above the natural level, so that now the surface 
is fourteen feet above the lake. In order to accom- 
plish this, a most remarkable transformation was 
effected by raising the buildings and filling the streets. 

For ten years, during this process of raising the 
grade, there was little uniformity in the level of street, 
sidewalk, and building, the grade having been raised 
three times, which made four different levels observable 
to a pedestrian on any one of the streets. The original 
prairie level was seen in many vacant lots, and often 
with an early building yet standing on it; above this 
would be the street pavement at the level first estab- 
lished; next above that, perhaps a sidewalk conform- 

11 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 



ing to the grade next established; and contiguous to 
that a building and walk constructed after the final 
grade was fixed. So that a man walking along La 
Salle Street, for instance, found it necessary to walk 
continually up and down flights of steps, which ren- 
dered walking exceedingly unpleasant, not to say dan- 
gerous. 

The Chicago River 

A Bad Reputation. — Perhaps no river in the whole 
western continent has been celebrated more extensively 
in the press of the country than the Chicago River. 
And the reputation thus given it has not been especially 
to its credit. For upwards of fifty years it was the per- 
petual byword of travelers and newspaper- writers. It 
has been known as the breeding-place of the foulest 
miasma, the filthiest stream to be found anywhere in 
the land. 

Its Original Condition. — In the early days, before 
anything was done to deepen its channel or establish 
its banks, the Chicago River was little more than a 
deep bayou from the lake, about a hundred yards wide, 
reaching inland perhaps three quarters of a mile, with 
one arm extending northward and another to the south, 
each several miles long, but finally vanishing in the 
sloughs of the low prairie-land which extended many 
miles both north and south along the shore of the lake. 
The only perceptible currents of this so-called river 



13 



THE HISTORY OF CHI C A GO 

were caused by the winds blowing the water of the lake 
into it, and the return current when the winds sub- 
sided. 

A Natural Harbor. — This inlet was originally about 
twenty feet deep, but a huge sand-bar at the mouth 
prevented the entrance of large vessels until, by dredg- 
ing, the channel was cleared and deepened, so that 
thts' naturally well-arranged harbor has given the very 
best of docking facilities to mills, warehouses, elevators, 
and factories, as well as to merchants and manufac- 
turers, who are thus enabled to place their goods on 
board vessels for shipment direct from their establish- 
ments, without the necessity of loading them on wagons. 
Means of Crossing the River. — At first the river was 
crossed only by use of Indian canoes. After the de- 
parture of the Indians, the canoes being no longer 
available, row-boats were constructed to ferry people 
across the river. Floating bridges were established 
in one or two places in 1832, but these were so much 
objected to by the vessel-owners, that drawbridges 
replaced them, the first one being at Dearborn Street, 
in 1834. Since then the number has been increased 
until there are to-day sixty-four bridges in all, besides 
three tunnels which descend beneath the river. 

The River Improvement Committee of the Real 
Estate Board has recommended an appropriation by 
Congress of $1,250,000, for deepening the outer harbor 
to a depth of twenty-one feet, and the river north to 

13 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Belmont Avenue and south to the Stock-yards; also, 
for the reconstruction of the north pier as soon as the 
tunnels are removed. 

Since 1889 the commerce of Chicago harbor has 
steadily declined, while that of Calumet has as steadily 
increased, the totals remaining about the same, though 
the population of the city has more than doubled. 
Up to January 30, 1904, Congress had appropriated 
$2,642,930 for Chicago harbor and river, and $2,075,280 
for Calumet harbor and river. 

EARLY HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

The Discovery of Chicago. — Father Jacques Mar- 
quette was the first white man to set eyes on the present 
site of Chicago, in 1673. It was at that time occupied 
by an Indian village. 

The First Settlement. — Though discovered by a white 
man, the first settler of Chicago was a negro native of 
San Domingo, named Jean Baptiste Point De Saible. 
De Saible came from his native land, first to St. Louis, 
then to Peoria, which was at that time a French trading- 
post. In 1779 he built a cabin on the north bank of 
the Chicago River, which he occupied for seventeen 
years ; he then sold it to a French trader named Le Mai, 
returned to Peoria, and died there. 

John Kinzie. — Le Mai occupied the cabin until 1804, 
when he sold it to John Kinzie, the agent of Astor's 
American Fur Company. 

14 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

Up to this time Chicago was essentially a French 
settlement, though in 1795, by the treaty of General 
Anthony Wayne with the Indians, a space of ground 




JOHN KINZIE'S house. — FIRST AMERICAN HOME IN CHICAGO 



six miles square had been ceded to the United States. 
This was the first real-estate transfer on record in Chi- 



cago. 



But by the earlier conquest of General George 



15 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Rogers Clark, this whole section was claimed by Vir- 
ginia, and thus came near being the metropolis of a 
slave state. In 1800 the territory of Indiana was or- 
ganized, and Illinois became a county of that terri- 
tory. It remained a part of Hoosierdom until 1809, 
when '' the Illinois country " was made a territory, 
with Ninian Edwards as governor, and Kaskaskia the 
capital. The fort at Chicago was first set up July 
4, 1803, when the settlement consisted of only three 
or four French fur-traders' huts, surrounded for an 
indefinite distance by native Indians. The settlement 
remained under United States authority till 1818, 
when Illinois became a state. 

Mr. Kinzie soon enlarged his cabin and transformed 
it into a comfortable house. Here he lived with the 
Indians twenty-three years, excepting four years fol- 
lowing the massacre at Fort Dearborn, in 1812. He 
thus earned the well-deserved title of " Father of 
Chicago." 

The Fort Dearborn Massacre. — Fort Dearborn was 
first completed in 1804, and was called Fort Chicago. 
It was garrisoned by two companies of United States 
troops. 

The celebrated massacre occurred in August, 1812, 
near the present intersection of Prairie Avenue and 
Eighteenth Street, while the citizens and soldiers were 
endeavoring to escape. Here fifty-nine of the seventy 
persons at the fort were foully murdered by the Indians. 

16 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

This put a check on the growth of the settlement, but 
the spirit of Chicago was hovering over the place, and 
its future development and growth were inevitable. 

John Kinzie was one of the few who escaped the 
massacre. He returned with his family in 1816, when 
the fort was rebuilt and named Fort Dearborn, after 
General Henry Dearborn. It was abandoned as a fort 
in 1837, when most of the Indians had left the coun- 
try, and in 1856 gave way to business houses. To-day 
a marble tablet inserted in the wall of a warehouse on 
Michigan Avenue, near River Street, marks the spot 
where the old fort stood. The inscription on the tab- 
let reads as follows : 

" This building occupies the site of old Fort Dearborn, which 
extended a little across Michigan Avenue and somewhat into the 
river as it now is. The fort was built in 1803-04, forming our out- 
most defense. By order of General Hull it was evacuated Au- 
gust 15, 1812, after its stores and provisions had been distributed 
among the Indians. Very soon after, the Indians attacked and 
massacred about fifty of the troops and a number of citizens, in- 
cluding women and children, and next day burned the fort. In 
1816 it was rebuilt, but after the Black Hawk War it went into 
gradual disuse, and in May, 1837, was abandoned by the army, 
but was occupied by various government officers till 1857, when 
it was torn down, excepting a single building, which stood upon 
this site till the great fire of October 9, 1871. At the sugges- 
tion of the Chicago Historical Society, this tablet was erected by 
W. M. Hoyt, November, 1880." 

Illinois Becomes a State. — Illinois became a state 
in 1818, but the larger portion of the population was 

17 




TABLET MARKING THE SITE OF FORT DEARBORN 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

at that time scattered through the southern part of the 
state, with a French settlement at Peoria. Fort Dear- 
born was regarded as on the remote frontier. Mail 
was received at the fort only twice a month in winter, 





VIEW OP CHICAGO IN 1821 

and once a week in summer, being brought by a man 
on horseback. 

In 1823 the entire property of Chicago was assessed 
at $2,500. Once a year a schooner was sent by John 
Jacob Astor to exchange supplies for furs. 

Chicago Begins to Grow. — It was not until about 

19 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

1830 that Chicago really began to grow. Previous 
to that time, Chicago was simply a military post and 
fur station, and the whole region round about Fort 
Dearborn had been known as Chicago. In August, 
1830, this whole region contained only twenty-seven 
voters. There were only four white families in Chicago, 
besides the garrison and the fur agent. The country 
was infested with Indians; the Indian trails leading 
to Chicago at that time were as numerous as are the 
railroad lines to-day. 

The name of Chicago was definitely assigned to a 
certain plat of land, by maps, in August, 1830, by the 
Illinois and Michigan Canal Commissioners. The 
United States Congress had, in 1827, made a grant of 
land to aid in the construction of this canal. The 
act had been secured by the efforts of Daniel P. Cook, 
from whom Cook County was named. Chicago, by 
its first map, was bounded by the streets now known 
as Madison, State, Kinzie, and Halsted. The highest 
price paid for two lots the first year in Chicago was 
$114, the average being much less. In 1831 there 
were twelve families. Cook County was organized 
in this year. 

In 1832 the taxes amounted to nearly one hundred 
and fifty dollars. With twelve dollars of this sum 
Chicago's first public building — a pound for stray 
cattle — was constructed. Clark Street was at that 
time the main street in the settlement. 

30 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 



Before the close of 1833 there were fifty famihes 
living in Chicago, and the settlement had been incor- 
porated as a village. The United States government 
spent in that year thirty thousand dollars in dredging 
the river. The following spring an unusually large 
freshet carried away the bar at the mouth of the river, 
thus giving access to the largest lake craft, and on 
July 11th of that year the schooner Illinois was the 
the first large vessel to enter the Chicago River. 

At the annual reunion of the Chicago Pioneers' and 
Sons and Daughters of Pioneers' Association held in 
Chicago, May 27, 1905, the oldest pioneer settler of 
Chicago was present, Alanson Filer, who landed in 
Chicago from Buffalo in 1833. Three of the six 
survivors of the settlers who came to Chicago on the 
schooner Illinois in 1834 were present at the reunion. 
They wxre Edward O. Gale, William Gale, and George 
Sinclair. 

Great Land Treaty with the Indians. — A great im- 
petus was given to the sale of land in the new town by 
the opening of lands for settlement, through a treaty 
made with the Indians in 1833. This treaty was 
really one of the most important events in the early 
history of Chicago, for the effect of it was to draw 
thousands of speculators to the Northwest, and thus 
begin the great industrial development of the richest 
section of land to be found anywhere in the world. 
Previously, the Indians so far outnumbered the white 

21 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

people that they were a burden and a serious detri- 
ment, being lazy, dirty, and dissolute. 

When the United States Commissioners came in 
September, 1833, by appointment, to purchase lands 
of the Indians in Illinois and Wisconsin, seven thousand 
of the dusky warriors met the Commissioners, and by 
a treaty signed in a large tent on the bank of the river, 
ceded to the United States twenty million acres of the 
lands which they had occupied, and agreed to move 
twenty days' journey west of the Mississippi. 

In a few months after this, the influx of buyers from 
the East was so great that temporary structures had 
to be erected for housing them. Chicago was having 
its first '' boom." 

In 1834 the population was about two thousand. 
Four years later it had more than doubled, and since 
that time the rapid increase has been the marvel of the 
civilized world. 

The Wolf -hunt. — An incident which occurred in 
October, 1834, is worth recording. On the morning 
of the 4th a large black bear was seen in the strip of 
woods a quarter of a mile out of town. The men seized 
their guns and made for the woods, where the bear was 
soon found and killed. But the hunting fever was up, 
and instead of returning to their homes, a systematic 
wolf -hunt was organized, which resulted in the killing 
of forty wolves in one day, all within the limits of the 
present great metropolis. The howling of wolves 

22 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

at night within the city Hmits is reported as late as 
1838. 

Causes of Chicago's Growth. — The city obtained its 
charter March 4, 1837, when its population was said 
to be 4,149. W. B. Ogden, a Democrat, was the first 
mayor of Chicago. The area of the city at that time 
was 10.7 square miles ; to-day it is nearly two hun- 
dred square miles. The distance from the northern 
limits to the southern is now twenty-six miles. The 
distance from the lake to the most remote western 
boundary is fourteen and a half miles. The population 
in 1905 is nearly 2,250,000. 

At the time of Chicago's birth the eyes of all people 
in the East were turned toward the rich and ever-invit- 
ing prairies of Illinois and the West. The constant 
influx of Europeans on the Atlantic coast also demanded 
an outlet westward, and the ambitious young men of 
the Eastern states saw in the great western country 
a most inviting field for their activities. With them 
came the steam railway, and shortly afterw^ard the 
electric telegraph, the electric light, and the numerous 
labor-saving machines which gave a tremendous im- 
pulse to agriculture and manufactures in all the states. 
These were the chief causes which led to the settlement 
and growth of all the Central West. 

But Chicago was not only born at an auspicious 
time, its geographical location was also such that its 
growth was as inevitable as its birth. Although the 

23 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

immediate conditions and environment were most 
unfavorable, Chicago was not destined to be a city 
of local limitations. In spite of adverse conditions, 
the great Northwest demanded a metropolis at the 
head of Lake Michigan, and Chicago had to meet the 
demand. The narrow, sluggish stream which emptied 
into the lake at this point, though insignificant in itself, 
and with a scarcely perceptible current, yet offered a 
fine harbor for the vast shipping of the lakes, and the 
products of all the Northwest had to be brought to this 
point for shipment to the East. 

Thus as the people moved westward and opened up 
the great industries and cultivated the millions of acres 
of the richest land in the world, it was inevitable that 
the metropolis of the West should have its birth, and 
should develop with a rapidity in keeping with the 
rapid flow of population into the whole Northwest. 

The First Railroad 

The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, now the 
Chicago and Northwestern, was the first railroad con- 
structed out of Chicago. This was chartered January 
IG, 1836. Galena at that time was a more important 
place than Chicago, and therefore its name came first in 
the charter. The capital stock of this road was one 
hundred thousand dollars, and the company was au- 
thorized " to operate the road by animal or steam 
power." The first locomotive of the road was called 

24: 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

" The Pioneer." It arrived at Chicago on October 10, 
1848, nearly thirteen years after the charter was ob- 
tained. The lUinois and Michigan Canal was completed 
the same year. 

During this interval there was a serious check to the 
prosperity of Chicago. The land boom had been 
overdone, and the city was practically bankrupt for five 
years. The same condition existed throughout the 
state, and to some extent in all the states. Work on 
the Illinois and Michigan Canal was abandoned for 
a time, and Chicago waited for its new life. 

This came with the shipment of cattle and wheat 
to the Eastern states. In 1838, 78 bushels of wheat 
were shipped eastward ; in 1839, nearly 4,000 bushels 
were exported; in 1840, 10,000 bushels; in 1841, 
40,000 bushels; in 1842, nearly 600,000 bushels; and 
in 1848, before the first railroad was in operation or 
the canal was completed, Chicago was exporting two 
and a quarter million bushels of grain in a year; in 
1853, six and a half millions; in 1854, nearly eleven 
millions ; and since then there has been a steady 
increase, until in 1904 the enormous amount of 
147,816,204 bushels of grain passed through Chicago 
to eastern points. 

The canal connecting the Chicago River with the 
Illinois River was begun in 1836 and finished in 1848. 
In 1850 the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was 
completed as far as Elgin. In 1853 this road paid a 

25 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

dividend of eleven per cent. This road and the canal 
were by this time recognized as important agencies in 
the development of Chicago. The population was 
trebled in six years after the opening of the canal, and 
since that time the population has increased rapidly. 
Other railroads were constructed, and, of necessity, 
had to enter Chicago. To-day, Chicago is the largest 
railroad center in the world. The railroad system of 
which Chicago is the center now includes one hundred 
and twenty thousand miles of track, besides about 
eight hundred miles of terminal railway lines sur- 
rounding the city. 

An average exceeding one passenger train a second 
for every twenty-four hours of the summer season 
reaches or leaves the city from the various terminal 
stations in Chicago. 

The Illinois and Michigan Canal 

The construction of a canal which should connect 
the waters of Lake Michigan with the Mississippi 
River and the Gulf of Mexico was first projected 
in 1814. 

In 1822 Congress granted to Illinois the right of way 
across the public lands from the head of Lake Michigan 
to La Salle, a distance of about one hundred miles, for 
canal purposes, and in 1827 donated to the state a 
quantity of land, *' equal to one half of five sections in 
width [about ninety feet], on each side of the canal, 

26 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

reserving each alternate section to the United States 
from one end of the said canal to the other." 

The first ground was broken in the construction of 
the canal, at Lockport and at Bridgeport, July 4, 1836. 
This was a great day for Chicago. 

By the 1st of January, 1839, $1,400,000 had been 
expended. In 1841 the work was stopped, on account 
of hard times, but was later resumed, and finished in 
April, 1848, at an entire expense of $6,170,226. 

In 1865 the City Council of Chicago donated $2,500,- 
000 to deepen the canal for the purpose of increasing 
the current and disposing of the sewage of the city. 
This work was finished in 1871. The state legislature 
refunded the money to the city after the great fire of 
1871. 

The Drainage of fJie City. — This was still unsatis- 
factory, and the people of Chicago had a vital problem 
to solve, which seemed to present an almost insur- 
mountable difficulty. 

The river is the chief outlet for all the sewage of 
the city, and as there never was sufficient current to 
carry this sewage away into the lake, the water of 
the river, in time, became a menace to health, to 
say nothing of its offense to sight and smell. Unless 
some relief could be obtained, it seemed inevitable 
that the people must either die from poison or move 
away. But the people of Chicago have always been 
an indomitable class. The river had to be changed in 

27 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

some way from a filthy pool to a live, running stream, 
and they set out to accomplish this. 

It was effected, in a measure, by erecting an immense 
steam-pump at the entrance of the canal and pumping 
the water of the river into the canal, thus giving the 
river a current away from its mouth. Later, the deep- 
ening of the canal so that the water would flow into it 
naturally and be carried down to the Illinois River, 
and into the Mississippi, gave further relief. 

The Drainage Canal. — But all this did not meet 
the necessities of the case, and a still greater under- 
taking was planned in the construction of the great 
Drainage Canal. 

The first ground was broken, in connection with 
this work, on " Shovel Day," September 3, 1892. The 
lake water was first turned into the canal January 2, 
1900, and the canal was filled in thirteen days. The 
formal opening of the canal was on January 17, 1900. 

It is fourteen feet below the water-level of Lake 
Michigan, and has a current from one and a quarter 
to one and nine tenths miles an hour. The canal ex- 
tends from its junction with the west fork of the South 
Branch of the Chicago River to Joliet, a distance of 
thirty-six miles. It is 110 to 202 feet wide at the bottom, 
and 198 to 290 at the top. It discharges 300,000 cubic 
feet of water a minute. The total amount of excava- 
tion is 42,397,904 cubic yards. Its cost, including 
interest on bonds and tax-warrants, is $43,503,168. 

38 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

It is large enough for ships to navigate, and will ulti- 
mately be used for that purpose. The minimum depth 
of water in the main channel is 22 feet. 

This canal carries off all the pollutions of the river, 
as well as most of the impurities which find their way 
into the lake north and south of the river. 

The Sanitary District, as the drainage district of 
Chicago is called, was organized under an act of the 
legislature passed in 1899. It embraces three hundred 
and fifty-nine square miles, including the whole of the 
city and a large portion of the county. This district is 
under the control of a board of nine trustees, elected 
by the people of the district for a period of four years. 
This board has power to levy and collect taxes, and 
has already spent $42,503,168 in the construction and 
maintenance of the canal. 

The Great Fire of 1871 

No event in the history of Chicago has been more 
momentous than that of the great fire of 1871, which 
swept away $186,000,000 worth of property, and par- 
alyzed for a time the very life of the city. The total 
value of all the property in the city at that time was 
only about $600,000,000. 

The fire was started by the overturning of a lamp 
by a woman who was milking a cow, on the evening 
of Sunday, October 8, 1871. A strong southwest 

Z9 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

wind was blowing, and the flames spread with starthng 
rapidity. 

The fire began. in the rear of 137 De Koven Street, 
near CHnton, and before it was subdued had swept 
eastward and northward* to Fullerton Avenue, four 
miles along the lake front, covering an area variously 
stated as being from 1,687 to 2,400 acres. About 
seventy thousand people were rendered homeless, and 
17,450 buildings consumed within two days. Even 
stone buildings crumbled mysteriously, sometimes even 
before the fire reached them. It is said that flames 
would burst out when the real fire was a block or 
two away. Thousands of people were driven by the 
flames into the lake, and other thousands to the prairie 
on the west. The city water-works, almost a mile 
north of the river, were among the first buildings on 
the north side to ignite. Thus while people were 
gazing southward at the burning city, they were 
astonished to discover that the water-works had sud- 
denly opened a fire in their rear. The glare of the 
flames was said to be visible 150 miles away. 

At first Chicago seemed to be ruined by this dire 
disaster forever; the old settlers were broken-hearted; 
but the site was the same as at first, and still possessed 
all its natural advantages for the building of a great 
metropolis. The great Northwest still lay open, with 
its immense fields of grain and herds of cattle. The 
lake was still there, with its broad expanse of waters 

30 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

inviting the commerce of the nation, and the river re- 
mained with its improved harbor and docks. 

The world outside looked on and saw the situation. 




FROM HARMON COURT, LOOKING NORTH, AFTER THE GREAT FIRE 

31 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Capital at once came to the rescue, and a new 
city began to rise from the ashes of its former self; 
the new buildings constructed were more elaborate and 




FROM HARRISON STREET, LOOKING NORTHEAST, AFTER THE 

GREAT FIRE 

33 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 



more expensive than those which had been burned. 
In two years there was a new city in full dress, and the 
fire proved, after all, a blessing instead of a curse. Pop- 
ulation continued to increase; in 1870 the census 
showed a population of 298,977; in 1905 the popula- 
tion is said to be about 2,250,000. 

The loss of life by flames and exposure is said to 
have been over two hundred, though some old set- 
tlers say it was not more than thirty or forty; the 
property loss was $186,000,000, of which $53,000,000 
represents loss in buildings and $58,720,000 personal 
effects. The balance consists of stocks, produce, and 
manufactured articles of every description. 

The amount of insurance was $88,600,000, not 
more than $10,000,000 of which was recovered. 

Contributions for the relief of those rendered des- 
titute came from every source, amounting to nearly 
$7,000,000, of which sum England contributed fiv9 
hundred thousand dollars. 

In one year eighty thousand feet of frontage which 
had been burned in the South Division was more than 
half rebuilt, at a valuation of $32,154,700. 

At 137 De Koven Street is an inscription to com- 
memorate the great fire. 

The Anarchist Riots 

Early in 1886 serious trouble began to be apprehended 
from the demand of laborers for an eight-hour day. 

33 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

A general strike was planned for May 1st of that year. 
On the 4th of May a riot at the McCormick Reaper 
Works resulted in the injury of several rioters, and a 
few were said to have been killed. 

The worst element among the rioters was composed 
of anarchists. A circular was issued by some of their 
number, calling their fellows to arms. A large gath- 
ering of those who were advocating disrespect for the 
laws was held on West Randolph Street, in Haymarket 
Square, at which violent language was used, and the 
police undertook to disperse the crowd. As the police 
were approaching an alley on Desplaines Street a bomb 
was thrown from a group of anarchists at that point, 
killing seven and wounding sixty. 

Several of the leaders were arrested and brought to 
trial. Three were sentenced to the penitentiary for 
life, and five to be hung. November 11, 1887, was the 
day fixed for their execution. Before the day arrived, 
one of the five had succeeded in committing suicide 
in the jail. 

The excitement on the day of execution was intense, 
but no public disturbance was created, and since then 
the anarchists have caused little or no trouble in 
Chicago. 

The World's Columbian Exposition 

The '' World's Fair " of 1893 was one of the most 
notable events in the history of Chicago. It was de- 

34 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

signed as a celebration of the discovery of America by 
Columbus, and was to be held in 1892, but the delays 
caused by the magnitude of so great an undertaking 
made it necessary to postpone the opening until May 
1, 1893, though the grounds were dedicated with great 
display and elaborate ceremony October 21, 1892. 

The site selected was Jackson Park, about six miles 
south of the City Hall, on the lake shore. This park 
was completely transformed and converted into an 
area especially suited for the location of buildings and 
the daily assembling of thousands of people. 

Great competition existed between Chicago and 
New York for the location of this great Exposition, 
and it was only the indomitable energy and determina- 
tion of the citizens of Chicago which secured the vote 
of Congress in favor of that city. Eleven million 
dollars was secured by a systematic canvass for sub- 
scriptions, and bonds were issued for five millions 
more. The national government furnished ten mil- 
lion dollars. 

Contrary to expectations, the Exposition paid all its 
expenses. It was visited by twenty-one million people. 

The Railroad Riots of 1894 

During the financial panic of 1893, workmen's 
wages were reduced in the car-shops at Pullman, the 
largest plant of the kind in the world, as well as in most 
shops and factories. When times improved in 1894, 

35 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

the workmen at Pullman demanded an increase in 
wages, but their demand was not granted. A strike 
followed, and for several weeks vain efforts were made 
by the strikers to secure concessions from the Pullman 
Company. Then Eugene V. Debs, who was the 
head of the Switchmen's Union, or the American 
Railway Union, ordered a sympathetic strike. The 
men refused to switch trains on roads carrying Pullman 
cars, and this affected the moving of trains all over 
the country. Great confusion in business resulted, 
mails were delayed, and business generally became 
paralyzed. Cars were left anywhere and everywhere, 
and freight perished on the tracks. The prices of 
meats and vegetables rose alarmingly, and even a 
famine was threatened. Passenger traffic was also 
seriously interfered with. 

Chicago was the storm-center, as it was the great 
central point reached by all the trunk lines. Other 
labor unions joined the ranks of the strikers, and much 
violence followed. Cars were overturned, tracks torn 
up, and freight-cars burned. 

This work of destruction began in July and grew 
steadily worse. The railroad managers called for 
protection, and in Chicago the police protection was 
inadequate to cope with the disorderly and violent 

crowd. 

The Governor was not asked for help, and offered 
none. But the national government was appealed to, 

36 



THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO 

and the President sent fifteen hundred troops to pre- 
vent violence and protect the mails in transit and also 
interstate commerce, in accordance with a provision 
in the interstate commerce act of Congress. 

x\fter several arrests were made the riots ended. Mr. 
Debs and several of his associates were arrested and 
imprisoned for six months for obstructing the United 
States mails. 



37 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

The various departments of the city government 
may be grouped under the general headings of 
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. 

The present code of the city was adopted March 
^0, 1905, but has since been revised in many partic- 
ulars. 

The City Hall, the headquarters for all departments 
of the city government, occupies the west half of the 
block bounded by Clark, Randolph, La Salle, and 
Washington streets. The County Court House has 
occupied the east half of the same block. This is 
now being torn down to make way for a magnificent 
new structure, and the City Hall is likely to suffer the 
same fate after the completion of the new Court House. 

In the City Hall nearly all the business of the city 
is transacted. The City Council meets there, the 
Mayor's office is there, as well as most of the offices 
and departments of the city government. 

The following city officers are elected for a term of 
two years : Mayor, City Clerk, City Treasurer, City 
Attorney. 

Heads of departments are appointed by the Mayor 
with the approval of the City Council. They are as 
follows : Corporation Counsel, City Comptroller, Com- 
as 



thp: city government 



missioner of Public Works, Superintendent of Police, 
Fire Marshal, Commissioner of Health, City Elec- 
trician, Building Commissioner, Business Agent, City 





-3^te 




^ 








Hi 




^■1 




ij^d 



THE CITY HALL 



Collector, City Physician, Oil-inspector, Superintend- 
ent of House of Correction, Board of Local Improve- 
ments (president, secretary, and three other members), 
Civil Service Commission (president, secretary, and 
two other members). Chief Boiler-inspector, City Sealer, 
and Superintendent of Track Elevation. 



39 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The total expenses of the city government for 1904 
amounted to the enormous sum of $22,806,949.53. 
The number of men employed in all departments aver- 
aged for the year 17,029. The salaries and wages 
paid these employees amounted to $16,270,007.24. 

The engineers and janitors of the City Hall for 1904 
numbered fifty-two. Their compensation amounted to 
$39,140.03. 

The bonded debt of the city, December 31, 1904, 
was $22,618,000. 

I. THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT 

In this Department may be included the Mayor and 
the City Council. 

1. The Mayor 

It is the duty of the Mayor to preside over meet- 
ings of the City Council, approve or veto the acts of 
the Council, appoint all non-elective heads of depart- 
ments, see that the ordinances of the city are faithfully 
executed, issue and revoke licenses, and exercise a 
general supervision over all the various subordinate 
departments of the city government. 

The Mayor may remove from office any oflScer ap- 
pointed by him. 

The Mayor may veto any measure passed by the 
Council which provides for the spending of money, 

40 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

but the measure may be again passed by a two-thirds 
vote of all the members. 

It is evident that the Mayor's responsibilities are 
very great. He must deal with all classes and all par- 
ties, and, as far as possible, be just to all. His duties 
are both legislative and executive. 

The Mayor's salary is $10,000. 

2. The City Council 

The City Council is composed of seventy aldermen, 
two from each ward, one elected each year for a term 
of two years. As a body, they are known as the Com- 
mon Council of the city. Their regular meetings are 
held in the council-chamber of the City Hall every 
Monday evening. 

The Council is organized into committees on Finance ; 
Local Transportation; Judiciary; License; Schools; 
Gas, Oil, and Electric Light; Streets and Alleys, 
South Division; Streets and Alleys, West Division; 
Streets and Alleys, North Division; Building Depart- 
ment; State Legislation; Harbors, Wharves, and 
Bridges; Special /Assessment and General Taxation; 
Health Department; Fire Department; Police De- 
partment and Bridewell; Water Department; Civil 
Service; Elections; Rules; Street Nomenclature ; City 
Hall and Public Buildings; Printing; Track Eleva- 
tion; Compensation; and Special Park Commission. 

The salary of an alderman is $1,500 a year. 

41 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The general duties of the Council are indicated by 
the names of the above committees. It is the duty 
of the Council to enact ordinances for the government 
of the city, levy and collect taxes, make appropriations, 
regulate licenses, etc. 

II. THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 

The Executive Department may be presented under 
the following subdivisions: 
General Government. 
Public Safety. - 
Public Works. 
Local Improvements. - 
Electricity. 
Education. 

GENERAL GOVERNMENT 

Under this head we may include : 
The Mayor and the City Clerk. 
The Law Department. 
The Finance De^partment., 
The Civil Service Commission.^ 
The Election Commissioners. 
The Dejpartment of Suj)plies.^ 
The City Art Commissio7i. 
The City Market. 
The Special Park Commission. 

43 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

Track Elevation Department. 
The Bureau of Statistics. 

The Mayor and the City Clerk 

The duties of the Mayor have been given under the 
head of Legislative Department. 

The chief duties of the City Clerk are to issue notices 
to members of the City Council and its committees, 
when requested to do so; to attest all licenses granted 
by the city ordinances ; to keep a record of the same, 
and issue a metal plate or badge, free of charge, to 
the licensee, when the ordinance requires it; to record 
and preserve the proceedings of the Council meetings ; 
and, in general, to act as an intermediary between the 
Council, the Mayor, and the public, for filing, deliver- 
ing, and reporting the transactions of the Council. 

The City Clerk's salary is $5,000. 

The Law Department 

The Law Department includes : 
The Corporation Counsel. 
The City Attorney. 
The Prosecuting Attorney. 
It is the duty of the Corporation Counsel^ as head 
of the Law Department, to conduct all the law business 
of the city. He drafts ordinances, deeds, leases, con- 
tracts, or other papers, when requested by the Mayor, 

43 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Council, or any committee or department of the city 
government, and furnishes them with legal opinions 
when asked. 

The Corporation Counsel must be a man of superior 
legal ability. He is a close adviser of the Mayor in all 
technical questions that arise in administering the city 
government, and the man to consult on all questions 
pertaining to the city's liability, or to new ordinances 
which any citizen may think would be beneficial to the 
city; his salary is $6,000. 

The City Attorney is the assistant of the Corporation 
Counsel. His special duties are to keep a register of 
all suits to which the city is a party ; to defend all dam- 
age suits against the city, especially the personal injury 
suits, such as claims of damages for injuries received 
from a fall on the sidewalk, falling buildings, escaping 
gas in the street, etc. ; he is the attorney for the Fire 
Pension Board; his salary is $5,000. 

It is the duty of the Prosecuting Attorney to prosecute 
any person who violates an ordinance of the city; his 
salary is $3,600. 

The Department of Finance 

The Department of Finance includes: 
The City Comptroller. 
The City Treasurer. 
The City Collector. 
The City Paymaster. 

44 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

The fiscal year begins January 1st; the municipal 
year, May 1st. 

The City Comptroller is the head of the Department. 
He has '' general supervision over all the ofiicers of 
the city charged in any manner with the receipt, collec- 
tion, or disbursement of the city revenues, and the col- 
lection and return of such revenues into the city 
treasury." He has charge of all deeds, mortgages, 
contracts, leases, etc., belonging to the city, audits and 
settles claims against the city, keeps a record of persons 
committed to the House of Correction, with fines, etc. 

He keeps a record of appropriations, makes the an- 
nual estimates for expenses, signs warrants upon the 
city treasury, and, in short, '' exercises supervision 
over all such interests of the city as, in any manner, 
may concern or relate to the city finances, revenues, 
and property"; he also approves and countersigns all 
contracts for work, materials, or supplies let by any 
officerof the city where the amount of such contract 
exceeds five hundred dollars. 

For the purpose of uniformity, fullness, and easy 
reference, a system of accounting and auditing is pre- 
scribed by ordinance for all departments, bureaus, 
boards, and officers of the city, and all these are subject 
to the approval of the City Comptroller, and he may 
require monthly financial reports from all departments, 
bureaus, boards, or persons connected with the city 
government. 

45 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The salary of the City Comptroller is $6,000. 

It is the City Treasurer's duty to receive from the 
City Collector all moneys belonging to the corporation, 
deposit them in a bank, keep a separate account of 
each fund or appropriation, such as the Police Fund, 
Fire Department Fund, etc., pay warrants, receive fines, 
and render monthly accounts of the condition of the 
treasury to the City Council. 

The Treasurer is not paid a salary, but is allowed 
twenty-five per cent of the interest accruing on city 
deposits. Out of this he pays all expenses for oflace 
and assistants. 

The City Collector executes all special assessments 
and other warrants, receives money for licenses, pays 
over to the City Treasurer all moneys collected by him, 
and files receipts with the Comptroller. The salary 
of the Collector is $3,600. He is required to give a 
bond for $250,000. 

The City Paymaster has immediate charge of the pay- 
ment of salaries to city employees, including public 
school teachers and library employees. His salary is 
$3,600. 

The Civil Service Commission 

The Civil Service Commission includes three Com- 
missioners, appointed by the Mayor. The Commis- 
sion employs a Chief Examiner and other assistants 
needed. The Commissioners and Chief Examiner, 
who is also Secretary, each receive a salary of $3,000. 

46 



THE CITY GOVERN INI ENT 

One Commissioner is appointed each year for a 
period of three years. 

The Commissioners classify offices and places in 
the city service, examine applicants for employment 
in such offices and places, certify to the heads of de- 
partments, as required, the names of those standing 
highest on the list of eligibles, investigate charges 
against employees in the classified service, and remove 
employees for cause. 

The classified service includes all the officers and 
places of employment in the city government, except 
such as are elected by the people or by the City Council, 
or whose appointment is subject to confirmation by 
the City Council, Judges and Clerks of Election, mem- 
bers of any Board of Education, the Superintendent 
and teachers of schools, heads of any principal depart- 
ment of the city, members of the Law Department, 
and one private Secretary to the Mayor. 

When a position is to be filled in the classified ser- 
vice, the head of the department notifies the Civil 
Service Commission. The name and address is then 
given him of the candidate standing highest on the 
register for such a position. Such candidate is then 
appointed on probation for a period fixed by the rules 
of the Commission. If not discharged by the head 
of the department with the consent of the Commission 
before the end of the probation period, the appoint- 
ment is deemed complete. The head of any depart- 

47 



CHICAGO: P AST AND PRESENT 

ment may also make a temporary appointment, with 
the approval of the Commission, to remain in force 
not exceeding sixty days, and only until a regular ap- 
pointment can be made. 

Election Commissioners 
Three Election Commissioners are appointed by 
the County Court, from the different political parties, 
each for a period of three years, one Commissioner 
being appointed each year. The Commissioners may 
employ a Chief Clerk and any other assistants with 
the consent and approval of the County Court. 

It is their duty to determine the election precincts 
and polling-places, giving each precinct three hundred 
voters, as nearly as may be; to provide the polling- 
booths, ballot-boxes, tally-sheets, poll-books, and all 
blanks and stationery necessary in an election; to se- 
lect judges and clerks of elections, canvass the returns 
of votes ; and, in brief, to have charge of everything per- 
taining to the registration of voters and the holding 
of all regular, special, and primary elections. 

A general election is one in which a national, state, 
judicial district, or county officer is elected. A city 
election is one in which one or more city officers are 

elected. 

The expenses of general elections, and of all exclu- 
sively judicial elections, are paid by the county, also 
the primary elections which relate to county elections ; 



48 



THE CITY GOVERN M E N T 

but the city pays the expenses of city and special elec- 
tions. The expenses for polling-places in the city are 
paid by the city. 

The salaries of the Commissioners and the Chief 
Clerk are paid by the county, though their jurisdiction 
is confined to the city. 

The clerks and other office expenses are paid by the 
city. 

The salaries of the Commissioners are $2,500 each; 
of the Chief Clerk, $4,000. 

Judges and clerks of election are paid salaries of five 
dollars a day. 

Town government has been practically abolished 
in Chicago, the city accepting the privileges granted 
by the legislature of 1901. 

Nomination of Candidates. — Municipal officers are 
nominated at city and ward conventions of each party. 
Each party has its committee for furthering the inter- 
ests of its own candidates. 

The voters of each party hold a '* primary election," 
at which they nominate their local candidates for office 
and choose delegates to the higher conventions. A 
primary election may be held by any party which 
polled not less than two per cent of the total number 
of votes cast at the last general election. 

The ballots may include only the names of those 
candidates who have been duly nominated in properly 
organized conventions. 

49 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

An independent candidate may be nominated, how- 
ever, by securing the signatures of not less than one 
for each fifty persons who voted at the next preceding 
general election in the city, petitioning that his name 
be placed on the official ballot. 

The aldermen are elected annually, on the first Tues- 
day in April. 

The Mayor, City Treasurer, City Attorney, and 
City Clerk are elected biennially, on the first Tuesday 
in April. 

Qualifications for Voting. — The voter must be a male 
citizen, at least twenty-one years of age on the day of 
election; must have lived in the state one year, in the 
county ninety days, and in the precinct one month 
preceding the day of election. 

Persons who have been convicted of bribery, felony, 
or other infamous crime, in the state of Illinois, and 
have not been officially pardoned, are not entitled to 
vote. 

An idiot is not entitled to vote, nor an alien who has 
not taken out naturalization papers. 

No person may vote except in the precinct where 
he resides. 

How a Foreigner may Become a Citizen of the United 
States. — The law says that ** no alien shall be admitted 
to become a citizen who has not, for the continued term 
of five years next preceding his admission, resided 
within the United States." 

50 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

If an alien is over eighteen years of age when he first 
comes to this country, he may apply for citizenship to 
a circuit court, or a district court, or other court of 
record, at any time after his arrival, and obtain his 
" first papers." 

Two years afterwards, provided he has been in the 
country five years and in the state one year, and can 
prove this, on oath, to the satisfaction of the court, 
he may obtain his naturalization papers and become 
a citizen by taking his oath of allegiance to the United 
States government. 

If under eighteen years of age when he arrives in 
this country, he may, on becoming twenty-one years 
of age and residing in the country five years, obtain 
admission as a citizen without having previously de- 
clared his intention to do so. 

In either case a witness is necessary to establish 
the proof of residence, and in the latter case the appli- 
cant must '* declare on oath that for two years next 
preceding it has been, bojia fide, his intention to be- 
come a citizen of the United States." 

Children who were under twenty-one years of age 
when their parents became naturalized are regarded 
as citizens on becoming of age. 

W 0711671 may Vote for School Officers. — Any woman, 
twenty-one years of age or over, meeting all the re- 
quirements for a male voter, is entitled to vote at any 
election held for the purpose of choosing any officer 

51 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

of schools. The ballot offered by any woman entitled 
to vote must contain no names except those of candi- 
dates for public school offices, and must be deposited 
in a separate ballot-box. 

Registration. — Voters must be registered on one of 
two days fixed by law before each general election, and 
no one is allowed to vote who has not registered on one 
of the two days. The registration days are the Satur- 
day immediately preceding the Tuesday four weeks 
before the election, and the Tuesday just three weeks 
before the election. This registration is not necessary 
oftener than once in two years. 

The Australian Ballot. — The Australian Ballot law 
was enacted in order to facilitate the casting of votes 
without interference, in secret and with deliberation. 

The judges of election are required to know that 
every person who casts a ballot is entitled to vote, and 
to see that no voter is intimidated or unduly influenced 
by ticket-peddlers near the polls. 

The voter is given a large ballot, on which are printed 
the tickets of all the regular candidates. This ballot 
he takes into a booth, where he is entirely alone, and 
marks the names of the candidates for whom he wishes 
to vote. Detailed instructions are given how to mark 
the ballot, and rules for the use of the ballot. 

The polls are open from six o'clock in the morning 
until four o'clock in the afternoon. 

The law permits a voter to be absent from his place 

52 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

of employment two hours for the purpose of voting, 
without loss of wages, provided he asks for the privilege 
prior to the day of election, and accepts the hours speci- 
fied by his employer. 

Every election day is a legal holiday throughout 
the district where the election is held. 

Counting the Votes. — As soon as the polls are closed, 
the counting of votes must begin, and continue 
without interruption until finished. This is done by 
the County Judge, assisted by the City Attorney and 
the Board of Election Commissioners. 

The Department of Supplies 

A Business Agent is appointed by the Mayor, but 
is under the special direction of the City Comptroller. 
It is his duty to purchase all the supplies and material 
for the use of the city, and let contracts for labor, w here 
the cost of supplies, material, or labor is less than five 
hundred dollars. His salary is $4,000. 

The City Art Commission 

By an act of the legislature, which w^ent into force 
July 1, 1899, cities may create an Art Commission 
with full power to pass upon the purchase, or accept- 
ance as a gift, and the location, of all works of art w^iich 
may be tendered to the city. Such a commission was 
established by the City Council of Chicago, February 
11, 1901. 

53 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

It is the duty of this Commission to inspect, and 
approve or condemn, any work of art offered for 
purchase or as a gift to the city. Unless approved by 
the Art Commission, it may not be placed anywhere 
on or within the property of the city. 

The Mayor or City Council may also ask this Com- 
mission to pass judgment on designs for buildings, 
bridges, approaches, gates, lamps, etc., which are to be 
erected on land belonging to the city, or in the parks 
and boulevards. 

This Commission consists of the Mayor, the Presi- 
dent of the Art Institute, and the presidents of the 
Lincoln, West, and South Park Boards of Commis- 
sioners, with a painter, a sculptor, and an architect, 
all residents of the city, and appointed by the Mayor. 

No salaries are paid to the members of the Com- 
mission, but each one is allowed one hundred dollars 
for expenses. 

The City Architect designs many of the city buildings, 
except the school buildings, which are designed by 
the architect of the Board of Education, and gives 
special attention to the architecture of pumping-stations 
and buildings for the police and fire departments. 

The City Market 

There are two market-places over which the city 
exercises supervision, — one on West Randolph Street 
and one on Dayton Street, North Side. A market- 

54 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 



master for each is appointed by the Mayor, and paid 
a salary of $945. Every single team using one of these 
markets for selling pro- 
duce must pay a fee of 
ten cents a day; every 
double team, fifteen cents. 
The total revenue from 
these fees in 1904 was 
$4,283. 







tmk 




■mi$ 


PUB'-" 


'^'■-i ~ 


^^^^iS^"":^ 




Wf.^^- 






1 





THE CITY MARKET, WEST RANDOLPH 
STREET 



The Special Park 
Commission 

The Special Park Com- 
mission was created in 
May, 1900, primarily for 
the purpose of promoting 
the purchase and main- 
tenance of a larger number of small parks and play- 
grounds, the area of the parks being limited to ten 
acres. 

Nine of the Commissioners are aldermen, and six 
are citizens not aldermen, all of whom are appointed 
by the Mayor, under authority of the City Council. 
In addition to these, the Commission appoints six 
other citizens ; each of the three park boards furnishes 
one representative; the County Board appoints two 
of its members; and the Board of Education, one of 

55 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

its members, —making, in all, twenty-seven members 
of the Commission. 

By special effort the Commission secured legislation 
authorizing the South Park Commissioners to pur- 
chase lands for larger parks, comprising not less 
than ten acres each and not contiguous to other 
parks. 

At the present time seven new small parks and seven 
new large parks are nearing completion as a result 
of these efforts, the total gross acreage of which is six 
hundred and forty-seven. 

The Commission has succeeded in obtaining, in all, 
$6,500,000 for new parks, besides additional taxes 
for their maintenance. Of this sum, the South Side 
is to expend $4,000,000; the West Side, $1,000,000; 
and the North Side, $1,500,000. 

The West Park district voted in November, 1905, 
for the issue of bonds for $2,000,000 more, which will 
be used for the improvement of the whole West Park 
system. The electors of that district also authorized 
the issue of $1,000,000 of bonds for creating small parks 
within the district. 

Municipal Playgrounds. — The Special Park Com- 
mission has supervision over nine municipal play- 
grounds, varying in area from one to five acres, in 
which 1,014,677 children assembled to play during 
the year 1904, without a single accident of serious con- 
sequence. There were a number of minor accidents, 

56 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

but no child was crippled, and no permanent injuries 
were sustained. 

These playgrounds are under a Superintendent 
of Public Playgrounds and Bathing-beaches, who has 
full police power, and directs all the athletics of the 
boys. 

Each playground, also, has an experienced director, 
who coaches the older boys in track and field athletics, 
and supervises the various sports and exercises, without 
expense to the boys. 

The Commission says that the street-corner gangs, 
through the influence of these playgrounds, have become 
the athletic teams of the neighborhood, and the records 
of the Juvenile Court, the officers of the Health Depart- 
ment, and the principals of the public schools unite 
in testifying to the value of these playgrounds as deter- 
rents in crime, truancy, and disease among children. 

Usually a police-oflnicer is on duty at each playground, 
and during the vacation season a lady assistant, who 
is a trained kindergartener, leads the smaller children 
in their games and exercises, and instructs them in 
raffia-weaving. 

The Municipal Playgrounds are open day and night, 
seven days of the week, and some of the larger ones are 
kept open in the winter also, and flooded for skating 
and other winter sports. 

The city appropriates $20,000 a year for maintain- 
ing the playgrounds. 

67 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Department of Track Elevation 

The Superintendent of Track Elevation frames 
ordinances for the elevation of steam surface roads 
in Chicago. His salary is $4,000. 

By various ordinances of the city since 1892, the 
railroad companies have been required to elevate their 
tracks within a certain time, and this work is being 
rapidly pushed forward. 

The total number of miles of main tracks to be raised 
is 155.35; the number of miles of all track, 760.5; 
subways to be constructed, 622 ; total estimated cost 
of the entire work when completed, $51,860,250, all to 
be paid by the railroad companies. Up to December 
31, 1904, the amount of work done was as follows: 
Miles of main track elevated, 82; miles of all track 
elevated, 425 ; subways constructed, 360 ; estimated 
cost of the work done, $28,725,250. 

This Department exists at the pleasure of the Mayor, 
not having been established by ordinance, like the other 
city departments. 

The Bureau of Statistics 

The Bureau of Statistics is closely connected, as an 
executive office, with that of the Mayor. The head 
of the Bureau is appointed by the Civil Service Com- 
mission, and is known as the City Statistician. His 
salary is $1,500. The City Statistician has charge 
of the Municipal Library, and publishes statistics 

58 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

once in three months, relating to all departments of 
the city government. He also compiles statistics and 
information relating to the government and operation 
of other municipalities. In his office are files of all 
reports printed or published by the city or any of its 
departments. These documents constitute the Mu- 
nicipal Library. This Library now contains 7,934 
books and pamphlets, many of which are of great 
value because of their rarity. 

PUBLIC SAFETY 

Under the head of Public Safety we may include 
the following departments : 

The Police Department. 

The House of Correction. 

The Fire Departmeiit. 

The Building Department. 

The Health Department. 

The Inspection Department. 

Pounds and Poundmasters. 

The Board of Examining Engineers. 
The city's expenses for these departments alone in 
1904 amounted to $6,040,227.36. 

The Police Department 

The work of the Police Department is done under 
the following divisions : 

59 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 



The Detective Bureau. 

The Bureau of Identification, 

The Bureau of Records. 

The Municipal Lodging-house. 

The Vehicle -inspection Department. 




CRIMINAL COURT BUILDING AND COUNTY JAIL 

60 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

The Construction Department. 

The Dog-pound. 

It is the duty of the poUce to preserve order, peace, 
and quiet within the city, and to enforce the laws and 
ordinances throughout the city. 

Police-officers have power to serve warrants and 
make arrests. It is their duty to assist firemen in 
saving property from fire, give alarms, and keep the 
streets clear in the vicinity of burning buildings. It is 
their duty, also, to take notice of all obstructions and 
defects in the streets, nuisances, etc. 

Every regular policeman wears a large star-shaped 
badge, with the city seal in relief in the center, and 
each star indicates the rank or office of the wearer. 
Special policemen wear a plain nine- ointed star, 
without the city seal. 

The city is divided by the General Superintendent 
into five divisions, twelve districts, and forty-four pre- 
cincts. He assigns to them inspectors, captains, and 
lieutenants of police, and may establish a station or 
sub-station in any precinct. He may also appoint 
special patrolmen from among the citizens, and may 
appoint any employee of the city a special policeman. 

The General Superintendent of Police is appointed 
by the Mayor and receives his orders from the Mayor. 
His salary is $6,000. 

This officer has many and great responsibilities. 
It is incumbent on him to see that nothing is permitted, 

61 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

either in word or deed, which will endanger the lives 
of citizens or the peaceful conduct of business through- 
out the city. He must place the various members of the 
police force where each will do the best work to secure 
the desired ends. His duties place him between the 
lawless and criminal classes on one side, and the law- 
abiding citizens on the other; hence he is sure to re- 
ceive the ill will of a large number of people before the 
end of his term of service. 

The Assistant General Superintendent looks after 
the general discipline of the force, and directs the train- 
ing of new policemen. He also has charge of the 
selection of special policemen, and receives their reports 
at stated periods. The suppression of gambling is 
also under the charge of the Assistant Superintendent. 
His salary is $4,000. 

Discipline in the force is materially aided by the 
Patrol Sergeants, who are dressed in citizen's clothes, 
and report daily to the General Superintendent. 

The total number of police-officers of all ranks, July 
17, 1905, was 2,452, besides about 45 clerks and other 
employees. There were 2,228 patix)lmen, 5 Inspectors, 
15 Captains, 60 Lieutenants, 2 Lieutenants of Detect- 
ives, 106 Patrol Sergeants, 136 Desk Sergeants, and 
60 Detective Sergeants. 

The city contains 190.6 square miles, which gives 
about thirteen police-officers to each square mile. 

Each patrolman has a certain district assigned to 

63 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

him, which he is expected to know thoroughly and 
to patrol at stated intervals. It is his duty to give 
information to those asking about the location 
of objects and places; assist people across the street; 
respond to alarms ; arrest violators of the law ; attend 
fires ; convey sick and injured persons to their homes, 
the hospital, or the police-station, and dead bodies 
to their former residences, or, if unidentified, to the 
morgue; care for the insane and destitute; take pris- 
oners to the county jail or police-court; take stray 
children to their parents ; kill mad or crippled animals ; 
stop runaway horses ; recover stolen horses and vehi- 
cles ; take children to the Foundling's Home or orphan 
asylum; rescue people from drowning; conduct needy 
people to the benevolent institutions or the County 
Agent's office; suppress disturbances, if possible with- 
out arrest; and, in general, see that everything within 
his district is done decently and in order, and in accord- 
ance with law and the best interests of the community. 

The Secretary of the Police Department receives 
a salary of $2,250 ; Inspectors, $2,800 ; Captains, $2,250 ; 
Lieutenants, $1,500; Patrol Sergeants, $1,200; Desk 
Sergeants, $1,200; Patrolmen, from $1,000 to $1,100. 

A recent practice of the Police Department, which 
has proven very effective in suppressing crime, is the 
sendino^ out from each of the five Police Divisions 
what is called a '' flying squad," also two from Police 
Headquarters. Each " flying squad " consists of a 

63 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

patrol sergeant or lieutenant in charge of three or four 
men, who scour an assigned territory for thieves and 
criminals, and such " squads " have succeeded in 
arresting many violators of the law who would other- 
wise have escaped. It is especially noticeable that 
the practice of carrying concealed weapons has been 
greatly diminished. 

In a city like Chicago, no department of the city 
government comes closer to the people themselves 
than that of the police. All good citizens have the 
greatest respect for and interest in the man who wears 
the policeman's uniform and protects the lives and 
property of the people. It is the duty of all to aid the 
police in every possible way, by giving information, 
discouraging public disturbances, and avoiding the 
company of the vicious. 

The men who are thus exposed to all kinds of weather, 
at all hours of day and night, facing dangers seen and 
unseen, are deserving of the highest regard, not to say 
the affection, of all lovers of good order and true liberty. 
These men risk their lives every day in our behalf. 

In 1904, 66,713 arrests were made by the police in 
the city of Chicago, an average of over 27 for each 
police-officer. Two policemen were killed and 272 
injured in the discharge of their duty. 

Of those arrested, 3,657 were under sixteen years of age. 

The money appropriated for the Police Department 
in 1905 is $3,805,568.46. 

64 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

THE DETECTIVE BUREAU 

The Detective Bureau does a very important work 
in receiving complaints from citizens and from other 
cities, and then finding the persons complained of and 
the property stolen. In 1904, 1,100 miscellaneous 
complaints of this kind were received from citizens 
and investigated ; 2,088 telegrams were received and 
acted on, besides 9,264 letters and circulars; 1,428 
inquiries were received from other cities for missing 
persons. The stolen property recovered was valued 
at $436,538.57. 

Officers in this Bureau make a special effort to rid 
the city of confidence-men and pickpockets. These 
detectives are dressed in citizens' clothes. 

The two Lieutenants of Detectives receive salaries 
of $1,700 each; the Chief Clerk of the Detective Bu- 
reau, $1,500; the Detective Sergeants, $1,200. 

Reports from Pawn-shops. — Much stolen property 
is sold at pawn-shops, and each pawnbroker is re- 
quired to report daily all articles taken in pawn, giving 
the numbers of watches, bicycles, etc., which may have 
been taken. 

How to Recover Stolen Watches. — If you know the 
number of a stolen watch, report this number to the 
Detective Bureau at the City Hall, with a general de- 
scription of the watch. If it gets into a pawn-shop, 
you will surely get it back. A large number of 
watches are reported stolen each day in Chicago, and 

65 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

about one fourth of these are recovered and restored 
to their owners. 

Custodian's Office. — In one room at the City Hall 
are kept all small articles which have been recovered 
from thieves, until they are claimed by their owners. 
If not claimed after a certain length of time, they are 
sold by auction, and the receipts are applied to the 
Police Pension Fund. The value of stolen articles 
turned into the Custodian's Office in 1904 amounted to 
$85,000. 

Police Printing-office. — There is also a small printing- 
office at the City Hall, where a daily Bulletin is printed 
and sent to all police-officers in the city, giving a de- 
scription of thieves that are wanted, people lost, and 
other matters which policemen should know. In this 
office is kept a list of all stolen property liable to find 
its way to pawn-shops, and pawnbrokers are at once 
notified, through the Bulletin, of all such stolen prop- 
erty. 

THE BUREAU OF IDENTIFICATION 

It is the business of this Bureau to identify persons 
brought in charged with crime; 2,825 such identifica- 
tions were made in 1904. 

The process consists of taking photographs, measur- 
ing carefully every part of the body, and recording 
every possible mark or characteristic which can be 
found, and comparing such with those previously made. 

66 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

This is called the Bertillon system. The finger-print 
system has now been introduced also. The records of 
both systems are kept on cards filed in boxes. 

THE BUREAU OF RECORDS 

This Bureau was first established January 1, 1905. 
It has introduced a new and uniform system of blank- 
books and records throughout the Department, which 
enables each station, as well as Police Headquarters, 
to keep a perfect record of all matters pertaining to the 
affairs of the Department. This Bureau is peculiar to 
the city of Chicago, as the whole system is original in 
its plan and method of compiling and recording the 
statistics. 

THE MUNICIPAL LODGING-HOUSE 

The Municipal Lodging-house was first opened De- 
ccember 21, 1901. 

It is designed to provide shelter and food for deserving 
poor people who are temporarily out of employment. 
Those who are able to work are required to labor three 
hours on the streets in return for lodging and breakfast. 
No tramps or drunken persons are admitted. 

The number of lodgings given in 1904 was 18,842. 
The number of meals served was 37,744. The number 
of lodgers sent to paid employment was 5,693. 

It is desired that citizens should understand the pur- 
pose of this institution. Vagrants applying at our back 

67 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

doors for food, clothing, or lodging may be needy, or 
may be professional beggars or disguised thieves. In 
either case a card of admission may be given them, 
which will be honored as it deserves at No. 12 North 
Union Street. If worthy, the bearer will receive food, 
lodging, and a bath, free, besides such other aid as the 
circumstances may demand. Such cards may be ob- 
tained either at the place named, or of the patrolman 
on the beat. 

THE VEHICLE-INSPECTION DEPARTMENT 

The patrol sergeant in charge of this department re- 
ceives applications for license of vehicles and license to 
drive passenger- vehicles. He also investigates com- 
plaints from overcharge of passengers, accidents with 
automobiles, and the loss of property in public vehicles. 

THE CONSTRUCTION DEPARTMENT 

The Construction Department provides the labor and 
material for all the police-stations, the patrol-wagons, 
buggies, ambulances, etc., and reports the expenses in 
detail to the General Superintendent. 

The City Dog-pound is on the grounds of the House 
of Correction. The superintendent keeps unlicensed 
dogs at the pound, and releases them on payment of the 
fee. The number of dogs received at the pound in 1904 
was 15,560. Of these, 1,901 were redeemed and 13,625 
were destroyed. The amount of money received was 
$5,575.25. The expenses were $8,896.75. 

68 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

The House of Correction 

The House of Correction, sometimes called the Bride- 
well, is located on California Avenue, near Twenty-sixth 
Street. A Superintendent is in charge, under super- 
vision and direction of the Board of Inspectors. He 
enforces order and discipline, and receives and dis- 
charges prisoners. His salary is $3,000. 

Persons sent to the House of Correction are allowed 
to work, at fifty cents a day, to pay any fine or costs 
which have been imposed in their case, and it is the 
policy of the management that every inmate shall be 
employed on work of some kind for the city. 

In 1904 there were 11,647 inmates cared for; the 
daily average being 1,723. These inmates did work 
of a constructive kind during the year, valued by the 
City architect at $53,000, the material for which cost 
only $7,500. 

Two houses of shelter for girls under sixteen years 
of age are maintained by the House of Correction ; also, 
the John Worthy School, which had nine hundred and 
thirty-eight boys during the year for training and edu- 
cation. 

The Fire Department 

The Fire Department is one of the most important 
of all the Departments of the city government. Every 
citizen is interested in the working and the effectiveness 
of this Department. A fire may break out at any time 

69 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

in our home or neighborhood, and if the Fire Depart- 
ment does not do the best work possible in trying to 
extinguish the flames, our home and property may be 
destroyed within an hour. 

There are one hundred fire-engine companies, 




FIRE-BOAT 



twenty-eight hook-and-ladder companies, four hose 
companies, five fire-boat crews, three volunteer com- 
panies, and two water-towers, besides eight fire- 
insurance patrols, all ready to respond to a call at 
any moment, day or night, to aid in extinguishing or 

70 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

checking a fire which may have broken out in any part 
of the city. 

The fire-insurance patrols are not maintained by 
the city, but by the special contributions of fire insur- 
ance companies. 

The volunteer companies draw no salaries, but are 
furnished supplies and apparatus, and report to the 
Department. There are fifty-three men in these 
companies. 

The firemen are on duty continually, day and night, 
and are paid from $840 to $1,134 a year for thus expos- 
ing themselves to the greatest dangers for the protection 
of the city, its people and property. 

The engineers are paid salaries ranging from $1,050 to 
$1,380; lieutenants and captains, from $1,200 to 
$1,650; chiefs of battalion, $2,750; the Fire-inspector, 
$2,750; the Assistant Fire Marshals, from $3,200 to 
$4,500 ; and the Fire Marshal and Chief of Brigade, 
$6,000. 

In 1904 there were six thousand six hundred and 
thirty-three fires, at which eighty-six firemen were in- 
jured and four were killed. There were eight thousand 
nine hundred and twenty-eight fire alarms responded 
to by the Department; one hundred and forty-eight 
persons in peril of their lives were rescued by firemen. 

Pilots are paid $1,300; candidates, $800; stokers, 
$1,080; hostlers, $900; Superintendent of Horses (in- 
cluding medicine), $2,400. 

71 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The city is divided into seventeen battalion districts, 
the companies in each comprising a battalion, in 
charge of an assistant fire marshal. 

The Building Department 

The Building Commissioner is expected to enforce 
all ordinances relating to the erection, construction, 
alteration, repair, removal, or safety of buildings. He 
must inspect all public school buildings, public halls, 
churches, theaters, factories, hotels, apartment houses, 
etc., see that fire-escapes are provided where needed, 
and that safe exits are provided from all such buildings. 

He may prohibit and stop the use of any passenger 
or freight elevator if found unsafe, and may direct the 
Fire Department to tear down any defective or danger- 
ous wall or building constructed in violation of the ordi- 
nance, and the owner must pay the bill for expenses. 

Within certain limits, known as the fire district, the 
exterior of new buildings must consist of stone, brick, 
or iron and steel. Outside of those limits wooden build- 
ings may be constructed, but a permit must be obtained 
before a building may be erected in any part of the city. 
In 1904, seven thousand one hundred and fifty-one 
permits were issued for new buildings. The buildings 
erected extended along thirty-nine miles of frontage. 

The Building Commissioner appoints a Chief Build- 
ing-inspector, who must report weekly on all buildings 
in course of erection, alteration, repair, or removal. 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

The salary of the Building Commissioner is $5,000. 
Permits. — Before proceeding with the erection, en- 
largement, alteration, repair, or removal of any building 




BANQUET-HALL, AUDITORIUM 



in the city, a permit must be obtained from the Building 
Commissioner, and work must be begun within six 
months and completed within a reasonable time. The 
specifications and requirements relating to buildings 
are fully set forth in the City Code, and are very strict. 

73 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

They should be studied carefully before going forward 
in the construction or alteration of any building. 

In school buildings the principal is required to main- 
tain a fire-drill among the pupils, and practise at least 
twice every month during the school year. 

The Health Department 

It is the duty of the Commissioner of Health to look 
after the general health of the city, and to enforce laws 
and ordinances relating to sanitation. He keeps rec- 
ords of births and deaths, and other vital statistics, and 
provides against the spread of contagious diseases. His 
salary is $5,000. 

It is the duty of the Health Department to inspect 
factories, tenements, and buildings in process of con- 
struction, with reference to their sanitary condition; 
to inquire as to the condition of factory employees; to 
prepare an annual report of trades and occupations, 
and the number of persons employed in them ; to in- 
spect the markets for the discovery of diseased meats, 
vegetables, or fruits ; to secure the removal of dead 
animals from streets, alleys, and vacant lots ; to suggest 
methods for the prevention of epidemics, etc. 

Twelve or fifteen years ago, Chicago had the highest 
typhoid death-rate of any large city in the civilized 
world. To-day its rate is among the lowest. 

For the purpose of carrying out this thorough inspec- 
tion of all places and conditions liable to produce disease, 

74 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

there is one Assistant Commissioner, at a salary of 
$3,600 ; one Secretary of the Department, at $2,400 ; 
one Chief Medical Inspector, at $2,000; one Registrar 
of Vital Statistics, at $2,000 ; one Chief Sanitary Inspec- 
tor, at $2,400; one Assistant Sanitary Inspector, at 
$1,500; one Superintendent and Bacteriologist, at 
$2,000; one Chief Chemist, at $1,500; two Ice-inspec- 
tors, at $900 each ; six Milk-inspectors, at $900 each ; 
six Meat-inspectors, at $1,000 each; one Superintend- 
ent of Scavenger Service, at $1,000; one Chief Fish- 
inspector, at $2,000 ; one Superintendent of the Isola- 
tion Hospital, at $1,000; two Examiners of Plumbers 
and one Secretary, at $1,500 each; one Foreman and 
one Engineer of the Ambulance-barn, at $1,000 each; 
five Superintendents of Public Baths, at $1,000 each; 
besides numerous subordinate employees, at salaries 
ranging from $900 to $1,500. 

The City Physician examines and cares for sick and 
injured persons at the police-stations, also employees 
of the city and applicants for positions in the service of 
the city, and persons claiming to have been injured by 
defective sidewalks, streets, or bridges. He makes 
monthly visits to the House of Correction, the Juvenile 
Detention Home, the Chicago City Infants' Hospital, 
the House of the Good Shepherd, and the Chicago 
Erring Woman's Refuge. His salary is $2,750. 

The Superintendent, the Bacteriologist, and the Chem- 
ist examine milk and cream, meat, water, food, drugs, 

75 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

etc., and keep a record of every analysis or examination. 
Every milkman must have a license, and must permit 
the Superintendent and the Bacteriologist to inspect 
his milk, wagons, cans, and the places where they are 
kept, under penalty of fine for refusal. 

The Ice-inspectors examine the ice that is sold for 
domestic purposes, and the iceman is required to weigh 
the ice when delivered, if he is requested to do so. 

The Inspector of Fish may enter into any store or 
other place and inspect the fish kept or sold there, for 
the purpose of ascertaining whether such fish are in 
good condition and fit for food. If the fish are found 
to be tainted or unwholesome, the Inspector must seize 
them and cause them to be destroyed at the expense of 
the owner. 

The Meat-inspectors are authorized to seize, condemn, 
and destroy any tainted or unwholesome meat, fruit, 
or vegetables found anywhere in the city. 

No person is allowed to offer for sale any package, 
basket, bag, box, or barrel of fruit, berries, or vege- 
tables, the contents of which are not of uniform quality 
and size throughout. 

Public Baths. — Manhattan Beach and Cheltenham 
Beach, both in South Chicago, are popular resorts under 
private management. 

The Health Department maintains free public baths 
for all persons who are not provided with bathing facili- 
ties at their homes. In 1904, 589,796 persons enjoyed 

76 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

the privileges of these baths, absolutely without charge. 
Of this number, 267,348 were men, 48,431 were women, 
184,026 were boys, and 89,991 were girls. The cost 
per capita to the city was about three cents and a half. 
The baths are open two days each week, during the 
bathing season, for women and girls only. 

There are now five of these public baths, located at 
192 Mather Street, 3725 Wentworth Avenue, 4647 Gross 
Avenue, 80 South Peoria Street, and Holt Avenue near 
North Avenue. Five more are to be built, at a cost of 
$70,000. Two of these are about completed 

The first free public bath was built in 1893, and was 
the first absolutely free public bath in the United States, 
and, so far as known, the first in the world. 

Only shower-baths are given. The baths are kept 
open every Saturday night the year round, exclusively 
for workmen, and also on Wednesday nights during 
the warm season. 

Besides these baths, the Health Department has the 
use of a limited amount of money for maintaining 
facilities for free public bathing for pleasure. Such 
bathing-beaches are maintained at Oakdale Avenue, 
Twenty-sixth Street, and Seventy-ninth Street. Here- 
after these bathing-beaches are to be under the control 
of the Small Parks Commission. 

Vaccination. — The Commissioner of Health has 
power to vaccinate any person within the city, or 
require such person to be vaccinated, whom he regards 

77 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

as liable to become infected with smallpox, or who has 
been exposed to infection. 

Principals of schools, public and private, are required 
to see that all pupils admitted to the school have been 
vaccinated within seven years. If the parent or guar- 
dian prefers it, the Health Department will have the 
service performed by a Public Vaccinator without charge. 
Public Vaccinators are required to be in attendance at 
their respective public school buildings one hour every 
Saturday during the school year to vaccinate, gratis, 
all who may voluntarily present themselves for that 
purpose, but they may not enter a school building, at any 
other time, as Public Vaccinators, unless requested by the 
principal or teacher, and then not during school 
hours. 

Removal of Dead Anivials. — The presence of a dead 
animal in any public place may be reported to the Police 
Department or to the Health Department, and the 
Dead Animal Contractor will be immediately notified 
to remove the same. The Contractor does this under 
contract with the city, and without pay, his remunera- 
tion coming from the hides which he sells. 

In 1904 the following numbers of dead animals 
were removed: Horses, 4,210; cows, 68; dogs, 14,267; 
calves, 92; goats, 85; sheep, 94; colts, 71; — total, 
18,887. 



78 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

The Inspection Department 

In addition to the inspection done under direction 
of one of the other departments, the following inspectors 
report directly to the Mayor: 

The Oil-inspector tests coal-oil, naphtha, benzine, 
gasoline, and other products of petroleum. His salary 
is $3,600. 

The Boiler-inspector is officially known as the Chief 
Inspector of Steam-boilers and Steam Plants. He ap- 
points a Supervising Mechanical Engineer and Chief 
Deputy Inspector, also a Chief Smoke-inspector, from 
the eligible list of the Civil Service Commission. It 
is their duty to inspect steam-boilers and steam plants, 
and enforce the ordinances respecting their use. 

The salary of the Chief Inspector is $3,600; of the 
Chief Deputy, $3,600; of the Chief Smoke-inspector, 
$2,000. 

The emission of dense smoke from any chimney or 
smoke-stack is deemed a public nuisance, and cause 
for a fine of $10 to $100. It is the duty of the Board 
to see that boilers and the means of avoiding smoke 
are such that with proper management the nuisance 
may be avoided. 

The City Sealer inspects and stamps with his seal, 
at least once a year, all weights and measures, and all 
instruments used for weighing, in the city. His salary 
is $3,000. He is appointed by the Mayor, with the 
official title of Inspector of Weights and Measures. 

79 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Any scales or measures found to be inaccurate he 
marks " Condemned," and if they are not adjusted and 
properly sealed within ten days, the City Sealer must 
seize and destroy them. This applies to scales used 
by merchants in stores, by peddlers, milk and ice deal- 
ers, fruit and vegetable dealers, and sellers of coal and 
wood. It is unlawful to practise fraud or deceit in the 
selling of any article. Articles of dry measurement must 
not be sold in wine or liquid measures, and vice versa. 
Every basket, measure, or bottle must be stamped to 
show its capacity, if the article is sold by measure. 
Coal baskets or measures, milk-bottles, etc., must be 
sealed by the Inspector of Weights and Measures. Any 
person suspecting that he is receiving short weight in 
coal, groceries, or any other article of merchandise, or 
scant measure in wood, fruit, berries, or vegetables, may 
complain to the City Sealer, and that officer will at once 
inspect the scales or measures used, and impose a fine 
if they are not found to be correct. 

The total expenditures of the City Sealer in 1904 
were $12,656.87; the collections were $15,968.25, be- 
sides $1,112 for fines imposed. Sixty- two arrests were 
made for violation of the ordinances relative to weights 
and measures. 

Pounds and Poundmasters 

The city is divided into seven pound districts, for 
each of which the Mayor appoints a poundmaster. The 

80 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

location of each pound is designated by the City Comp- 
troller. Poundmasters are paid a salary of sixty dollars 
a month. 

It is the duty of each poundmaster to impound any 
animal running at large, contrary to the city ordinances. 
Any person over eighteen years of age may also take 
such animals to the pound and receive a fee of fifty cents 
for each animal impounded by him. 

The Board of Examining Engineers 

The Board of Examining Engineers examines and 
licenses applicants for positions as engineers or in 
charge of steam-boilers. There are three members of 
the Board, and three inspectors. The secretary of the 
Board is paid a salary of $1,700; the other two mem- 
bers $1,500 each. These salaries are paid from license 
fees collected, and in case the receipts from such fees 
are insufficient to pay the salaries and legitimate ex- 
penses of the Board, the salaries are diminished pi'o 
rata. 

No person may manage or operate any steam-engine 
or boiler in the city until he has first obtained a license 
from this Board. The penalty is from $20 to $50 for 
each offense. The penalty for an employer permitting 
such offense is from $50 to $200 for each day's violation 
of the ordinance. 

Every licensed engineer is required to make a written 
report the first ten days in January and July of each 

81 



CHICAGO. TAST AND PRESENT || 

year, to the Board of Examiners, of the condition of 1 
the engine, boilers, and steam apparatus under his 
charge. 

Before applying for a license as engineer, the appli- 
cant must have had at least two years' practice in the i 
management, operation, or construction of steam en- | 
gines and boilers. ! 

It is the duty of the Board of Examiners to see that ; 
each boiler plant in the city has a licensed engineer or j 
boiler or water tender in charge at all times when work- * 
ing under pressure. 

Engineers in charge of locomotives are exempt from 
these requirements, also men in charge of boilers used 
for heating private dwellings, hothouses, conservatories, 
and other boilers carrying not more than ten pounds 
of pressure of steam per square inch. 



PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT 

This Department embraces : 
The Bureau of Engineering. 
The Bureau of Water. 
The Bureau of Sewers. 
The Bureau of Streets. 
The Bureau of Maps and Plats. 
The Commissioner of Public Works has charge of all 
the streets, bridges, docks, public lands and buildings, 
etc., collects water rent and taxes, water and sewerage 

82 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

licenses and permits, and makes contracts for public 
improvements not done by special assessment. His 
salary is $6,000. 

The Bureau of Engineering 

The Citij Engineer has charge of the construction of 
bridges, viaducts, water-works, water-tunnels, and any 
work which requires the skill and experience of a civil 
engineer, such as the main sewerage-works, water-pipe 
extension, and the maintenance of meter service. 
The salary of the City Engineer is $5,000. 
The Bureau of Engineering comprises : 
The Division of W ater-suj)ioly . 
The Division of Water-pipe Extension. 
The Division of Bridges and Viaducts, 
The Division of Harbors. 
The Division of Architecture. 
The Division of Water-supply. — The first systematic 
supply of water to the city was obtained from the Chi- 
cago Hydraulic Company, a private corporation char- 
tered in January, 1836. For two years previous a partial 
supply had been obtained from a well which the town 
trustees had dug at an expense of $95.50. This well 
was located where Cass and Michigan streets intersect. 
In 1840 the Chicago Hydraulic Company built a 
reservoir at the corner of Lake Street and Michigan 
Avenue, twenty-five feet square and eight feet deep, 
and erected a twenty-five horse-power engine, by which 

83 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

water was pumped into the reservoir from the lake, 
through an iron pipe extending into the lake about one 
hundred and fifty feet. About two miles of wooden 
mains served to supply about one fifth of the city with 
water. The rest was supplied by wells or by cartage 
from the lake. 

The city, at this time, included about ten and a half 
square miles, and was bounded by the lake on the east. 
Center Avenue to La Salle Avenue and North Avenue 
on the north, Wood Street on the west, and Twenty- 
second Street on the south. 

In 1851 the city bought the rights and franchises of 
the Chicago Hydraulic Company, and municipal owner- 
ship of the water-works, at least, has proven both popu- 
lar and profitable. 

The Chicago Avenue pumping-station was at once 
constructed. A wooden pipe thirty inches in diameter 
was extended into the lake, and a pumping-engine with 
a capacity of eight million gallons daily was installed. 

In 1856, the area of the city having again been en- 
larged, a second engine was installed, with a capacity 
of thirteen million gallons daily. 

In 1863 another considerable enlargement of the city 
was made, and the problem of having a pure water- 
supply for the city was not easily solved, but Chicago I 
enterprise seems to be equal to any emergency, and it 
was in this case. Chicago was now using nearly seven 
million gallons of water daily. 

84 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

Owing to the pollution of the lake water near the 
shore, it became necessary to carry water, for drinking 
purposes at least, from a point farther out in the lake. 
Therefore the project was formed of constructing a tun- 
nel under the lake, with an inlet two miles out in the 
lake. A guide-book of Chicago says that " when the 
work was conceived the whole civilized world was awed 
by the magnitude of the project." 

Work on this tunnel was begun March 17, 1864, and 
completed December 6, 1866, at an expense of $457,845. 

The next year a third pumping-engine, with a ca- 
pacity of eighteen million gallons, was erected at the 
Chicago Avenue station. 

The Two-mile Crib, — At the outer end of the tunnel 
was built what is now called the Two-mile Crib. This 
consists of a solid structure of iron and heavy timber, 
forty feet high and ninety-eight feet in diameter, in the 
center of which is an iron cylinder nine feet in diameter, 
which is sunk to a depth of thirty-one feet below the 
bottom of the lake, the water of the lake being thirty- 
three feet deep. This crib contains 750,000 feet of 
lumber, 150 tons of iron bolts, and is filled with 4,500 
tons of stone. 

On the top of this crib live the superintendent and 
his family, w ho have been there for twelve years. But 
their residence is by no means a lonely one, for it is 
daily visited by fishermen and others. The round-trip 
fare by steamer from the lake front is twenty-five cents. 

85 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

From the bottom of the crib, sixty-six feet below the 
level of the shore, two tunnels have been built, one five 
feet in diameter, the other seven. The second tunnel 
was completed in 1874. 

The five-foot tunnel connects with pumping-works 
on Chicago Avenue, and the larger one, continued 
westward three miles under the city, connects with 
pumping works at the corner of Blue Island and 
Ashland avenues. This also has seventeen large 
cisterns along its line for use in case of emergency. 
Its complete length is 31,490 feet. 

These two tunnels cost $1,500,000. They have a 
capacity of 150,000,000 gallons. The main pumping- 
works on Chicago Avenue draw water from a well at 
the end of the tunnel and force it up into an immense 
tower, from which it is distributed throughout the city 
in mains. These engines have a daily average of 
50,000,000 gallons, with a capacity of 65,000,000 gal- 
lons. One of the four engines, which pumps the water 
from the larger tunnel and distributes it to the city, is 
the largest engine in the world. It was built at an ex- 
pense of $200,000. At each stroke it pumps 2,750 
gallons of water. It is of twelve hundred horse- 
power, with a fly-wheel twenty-six feet in diameter. 

But, as the city grew, a larger quantity of water was 
needed, also the water became more or less polluted 
even two miles from the shore, therefore two addi- 
tional engines were put into operation in 1884, and 

86 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 



two more in 1887, making the nominal pumping capa- 
city of all engines combined 159,000,000 gallons daily. 
The Four-mile Crib. — A second crib was begun in 




THE CHICAGO AVENUE WATER-WORKS 



1888, four miles from the shore eastward from Peck 
Court, and a tunnel eight feet in diameter w^as connected 
with this crib by six openings, an average of about 
forty feet below the surface of the water, and eighty- 
five feet below the surface of the ground. This 
tunnel w^as completed in June, 1892. 

87 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Additional pumping-stations had been erected at 
Harrison Street, near Desplaines Street, and at Four- 
teenth Street and Indiana Avenue. The towns of Lake 
View, Jefferson, Lake, and Hyde Park were annexed 
to the city in 1889. These towns, except Jefferson, had 
each its own system of water- works. Lake View ob- 
tained its water through iron pipes about two thousand 
feet long. A two-mile crib, with a six-foot water-tunnel, 
was completed in 1896. The Hyde Park and Lake 
pumping-stations were combined after annexation, and 
since 1894 have obtained their water through a tunnel 
ending two miles from shore. 

The Carter H, Harrison Crib was completed in 1899» 
A tunnel extends southwesterly from this crib to a shaft 
at the foot of Oak Street. Its length is fourteen 
thousand and thirty-three feet, with an internal diam- 
eter of ten feet. The tunnel and crib cost $590,000. 
The crib is sunk in thirty-five feet of water, the outside 
diameter being one hundred and twelve feet, with a 
well in the center, sixty-two feet in diameter. Within 
the well two intake-shafts are sunk, each about one 
hundred feet deep. 

The total length of the three main tunnels is a little 
over thirty-eight miles. 

The total cost of the present tunnel system is nearly 
ten million dollars ; of the whole water- works plant, 
thirty-six million dollars. 

The net income from the Water Department for the 

88 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 



year 1904 was $4,000,462.33, or $137,643.41 in excess 
of the cost. 

In 1904 the total amount of water pumped was 146,- 
3 10,498,353 gallons, or about 400,000,000 gallons per day. 




CARTER H. HARRISON CRIB 



There are now ten pumping-stations, and another is 
under way, besides some changes and additions already 
authorized. These stations together will be capable 
of pumping 687,100,000 gallons per day, as follows : 

89 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

North (Chicago Avenue) 99,000,000 

West 60,000,000 

Harrison Street 36,000,000 

Lake View 48,000,000 

Fourteenth Street 84,000,000 

Sixty-eighth Street 104,000,000 

Washington Heights 5,500,000 

Norwood Park 600,000 

Central Park 100,000,000 

Springfield Avenue 100,000,000 

South (New Roseland) 50,000,000 

The Rogers Park system of water-works is owned 
and operated by a private corporation. 

The present maximum pumping capacity of all the 
stations owned and operated by the city is about 529,- 
500,000 gallons per day. There are now five cribs, or 
intakes, known as Lake View, Sixty-eighth Street, 
Carter H. Harrison, Four-mile, and Chicago Avenue. 

The Division of Water-pipe Extension. — There are 
now 1,978 miles of water-mains within the city limits, 
about 46 miles of which were laid in 1904, varying from 
four to thirty-six inches in diameter. There are 17 
water-pipe tunnels under the river, 20,349 hydrants, 
and 16,095 valves. 

The Superintendent of Water-pipe Extension has 
special charge of the extension of the city's water-mains 
and their maintenance. He has the oversight of eight 

90 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 




VERTICAL LIFT BRIDGE, HALSTED STREET 



district foreman and four foremen of pipe-yards, 
receives a salary of $3,000. 

91 



He 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Division of Bridges and Viaducts. — This Di- 
vision has charge of the construction and repair of all 
the bridges over the Chicago River and its branches, 
also the viaducts. 

There are sixty-four bridges in the city, fifty of 
these being movable bridges and fourteen fixed spans. 
Of the movable bridges, fourteen are bascule bridges 
of various types, one is a vertical-lift bridge, and thirty- 
five are swing-bridges. Three bridges are operated by 
steam, twenty-three by electricity, and twenty-four by 
hand-power. 

There are thirty-six viaducts and systems of via- 
ducts. 

The cost of operating the bridges for 1904 was 
$114,700; the cost of repairing and maintaining, about 
$200,000, making a total cost of about $314,700 for 
operating and maintaining. 

The Bridge Engineer receives a salary of $2,500. 

The Division of Harbors. — One important part of 
the City Engineer's duties relates to the maintenance 
of the Chicago harbor. 

By the report of 1904 it appears that 12,904 vessels 
entered and cleared in Chicago harbor, eighty-six per 
cent of which took the Chicago River. 

The number of vessels arriving during the season was 
6,631, and the tonnage 6,325,092. The total number of 
vessels that passed Rush Street bridge was 7,558, or 
more than sixty-eight per cent of all which entered the 

93 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 



river. The average per day was 30.59. The average 
time consumed by a vessel in passing the bridge was one 
minute and thirty-six seconds. The average time the 




ON THE CHICAGO RIVER — BRIDGE OPEN 

bridge was open for a vessel to pass was two minutes 
and fifty-one seconds. The average time open per 
day was one hour and ten seconds. 

There are seventy-five miles of river dockage in 
the Chicago and Calumet rivers. 

93 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The expense of harbor work amounts to $37,000 per 
year. 

The Harbor-master has charge and control of the 
Chicago harbor, which includes the Chicago River and 




MOUTH OF CHICAGO RIVER 



its branches, the Calumet River, the Ogden Canal, all 
slips connected with the rivers, the Drainage Canal, 
all piers and basins, and the waters of Lake Michigan 
for a distance of three miles from the shore between the 
north and south limits of the city. 

The Harbor-master keeps a record of all damages 
caused to bridges and docks by vessels. He controls 
the use of all the bridges, including railroad bridges, 
which cross the Chicago River or any of its branches, 
the Calumet River, and the Drainage Canal, within the 
harbor of the city. 

94 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

Bridges may not be opened over the Chicago River, 
or the North Branch, or the South Branch, from Kinzie 
Street to Twelfth Street, between the hours of six and 
eight in the morning and five and seven in the evening, 
except on Sundays. Beyond the limits of Kinzie Street 
and Twelfth Street the hours are from six to seven in 
the morning and half-past five to half-past six in the 
evening. 

No bridge may be kept open longer than ten minutes, 
and when closed must remain closed at least ten min- 
utes. 

The salary of the Harbor Engineer is $2,100, of the 
Harbor-master, $1,350. 

The Division of Architecture prepares plans and su- 
pervises the construction of new buildings for all the 
departments. 

The Bureau of Water 

The Bureau of Water conducts its business under the 
following divisions : 
Permit Division. 
Meter Mechanical Division. 
Shut-off Division. 
Accounting Division. 
Inspection Division. 
Assessors' Division. 
Collection Division. 
In 1904 there were 11,828 permits issued for various 

95 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

purposes, the receipts for which were $24,776.25. The 
net loss in this Division, above receipts, was $28,721.72. 

The net loss in the Meter Mechanical Division was 
$872.52. The total number of meters in use December 
31, 1904, was 8,102. The net receipts were $27,878.65. 

By a rule of the Water Bureau, if the water tax, which 
is payable every six months, is not paid within sixty 
days, the water will be shut off. This requires a special 
force of men to make the ' 'shut-off s." There were 5,468 
' 'shut-off s" in 1904, 1,578 of which were made at the 
request of the owner, and thirteen for leaks. 

The amount of water tax is determined from the 
architect's plans when the building permit is issued, 
these plans showing the number of water-faucets to 
be placed in the building. The tax for an average 
eight-room residence is $8.93 net, after fifteen per cent 
has been deducted for prompt payment. 

The Superintendent of the Water Bureau has special 
charge of the collection of water assessments and rates. 
His salary is $5,000. The total assessments for 1904 
were $2,785,166.45. The collections were $2,341,315.27. 

An examination of the water-pipes and faucets in cer- 
tain wards of the city is made each year, which adds 
materially to the general assessment. In 1904, 136,546 
such inspections were made, which added $60,633.80 
to the assessment. 

The net income of the Water Bureau, above expenses, 
for the year 1904, was $3,629,096.97. 

96 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

The Superintendent of the Collection Division re- 
ceives a salary of $4,000; the Assessor, $3,500; the 
Chief Permit Clerk, $1,200; the Chief Inspector, 
$1,500 ; the Superintendent of Shut-off Division, $1,500 ; 
the Chief Plumbing-inspector, $1,500; the Chief Clerk 
of Meter-rate Division, $2,000; one Diver, $1,800; 
eight Chief Engineers, $2,250 each ; the Superintendent 
of the City Pipe-yards, $1,620. 

The Bureau of Sewers 

The Superintendent of Sewers has charge of the con- 
struction, repair, and cleaning of sewers, manholes, 
and catch-basins, building bench monuments, and ap- 
proving street grades. His salary is $3,600. 

A complete diagram is kept of the network of sewers 
which drain the city, their total length being 1,601 
miles, of which 575 miles are constructed of brick and 
1,026 of vitrified clay pipe. These sewers are from 
nine inches to twelve and a half feet in diameter. 
There are 59,356 catch-basins, and 59,529 manholes. 

In 1904 there were 15,779 catch-basins cleaned, at 
a cost of $49,377.10, or $3.13 per basin. The total 
cost of cleaning sewers and catch-basins was $124,260.26, 
or $79.50 per mile. The cleaning is usually done by 
flushing, but sometimes by scraping. 

House-drain Division. — A corps of twenty-four in- 
spectors is employed to inspect house-drains, for which 
fees are collected, which render this Division prac- 

97 



I 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

tically self-supporting. There were 9,146 such inspec- 
tions made in 1904, the fees amounting to $21,738. 

There are seven Sewage-pumping Stations, all under 
the supervision of a Chief Mechanical Engineer. These 
stations are located at Sixty-ninth Street, Seventieth 
Street, Seventy-third Street, Kensington, Pullman, 
Woodlawn, and Fullerton Avenue. 

Street Grades. — Before the City Council can establish 
a street grade, the ordinance fixing such grade must be 
approved by the Superintendent of Sewers. During 
the year 1904 the Council established 1,753 such grades, 
all of which had to be carefully listed and recorded by 
the Bureau in its books and maps. This work is in 
charge of a Bench and Street Grade Engineer. 

Bench Monuments. — Eighty-two of these monuments 
have been constructed, mostly in the grass-plat between 
the street-curb and the building line. They are of con- 
crete formation, 42 inches square at the base, 16 inches 
square at the top, and 6 feet from bottom to top of the 
concrete. An iron cover is set on top of the concrete, 
just level with the surface of the ground, or flush with 
the surface of the cement sidewalk if the walk extends 
out to the curb. In the center of the top of the concrete 
is set a hardened copper rod, a half-inch in diameter and 
two feet long. The end of the rod showing in the top 
of the concrete is the bench-point on which the elevation 
of the monument is established. Ordinarily, the bench- 
marks have been located on the water-tables of brick 

98 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

buildings, stone steps, stone curbs, tops of hydrants, or 
by nails in roots of trees, to show where the leveling- 
staffs were placed. 

The Bureau has a system of records and maps by 
which any ordinance relative to street grades at any 
point in the city, passed since the great fire of 1871, may 
be consulted immediately, and full information obtained 
relative to subsequent changes of grade at that point. 

The Bureau of Streets 

The Superintendent of Streets has charge of the im- 
provement and repair of streets and sidewalks, street 
and alley cleaning, and the removal of garbage, ashes, 
and obstructions of any kind outside the building line, 
except such improvements as are made by special assess- 
ment. His salary is $4,700. 

Removal of Garbage. — It is unlawful to place any kind 
of dirt, solid or liquid, in any street, alley, or public place, 
except under permit from the city. Vessels for the re- 
ception of such garbage must be used in all cases, water- 
tight and made of metal, with a close-fitting metal cover, 
and kept in a convenient place for a health-officer, or 
scavenger, employed and licensed by the city, to remove 
the garbage or ashes. 

There were 289,695 loads of garbage removed from 
the alleys in 1904, at an expense of $640,602.50, or 
$2.21 per load. 

City Dumps. — The city maintains dumping-places 

99 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

in the most remote parts of the city, and each load of 
garbage has to be hauled an average of about five miles. 
This greatly increases the cost of street-cleaning and 
garbage removal over that of removing snow, which 
is dumped into the lake. It cost $40,971.48 to main- 
tain the city dumps in 1904. 

Removal of Snow. — In 1904, there were 45,676 loads 
of snow removed from the streets, at an expense of 
$74,284.27, or $1.33 per load. 

The longest street in the city is Western Avenue, 
which is twenty-two miles long; the next longest is 
Halsted Street, twenty-one and one-third miles long. 

The total street mileage is 2,805.981 miles ; the total 
alley mileage, 1,377.49 miles. 

Street-cleaning. — In 1904, 17,554 miles of streets and 
alleys were cleaned, which required the removal of 
128,537 loads of street-dirt. Tw^enty-five miles of 
weeds were cut by the city. 

In June, 1904, the Citizens' Street Cleaning Bureau 
was organized, outside of the city government. This 
Bureau was given $12,500 by the city, to be expended 
within six months. It cleans the streets and alleys be- 
tween Madison, Van Buren, La Salle, and Michigan 
Avenue. State Street is cleaned from Van Buren to 
the river. 

Rules of the Road. — The following rules apply to 
vehicles, but not to street-cars : 

When a vehicle overtakes another, it must pass on 

100 



THE CITY GOVERN ISIENT 

the left side. If the driver of the vehicle overtaken is 
requested to do so, he must turn to the right in order 
to make room for the other to pass at the left, provided 
there is not room to pass without such turning. 

When two vehicles meet, each must turn to the right 
when it is practicable to do so. 

Before turning a corner, a driver must raise his hand 
or whip so as to be plainly seen from behind and the 
side toward which he is to turn, and plainly indicate 
the direction in which he is about to turn. He must 
also take the right of the center of intersection of the 
two streets, whether he turns to the right or the left 
around a corner. 

A driver is not allowed to stop in the middle of a street, 
but must drive to the curb, unless he gives a signal by 
hand or whip, or calls out, plainly indicating his inten- 
tion to stop. 

The Bureau of Maps and Plats 

It is the business of this Bureau to prepare maps and 
plats for all departments. It also has charge of all 
matters pertaining to street-numbering. 

The Superintendent's salary is $2,100. 

The Superintendent can tell you the exact size and 
location of any lot within the city limits, and also the 
number which should designate the house on every lot, 
whether the house has been built or not. 

101 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

During the year 1904, 14,997 persons required the 
services of this Bureau. 

THE BOARD OF LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS 

This Board was first organized in 1901. It has spe- 
cial charge of all kinds of local improvements, such as 
street-paving, sewer extensions, sidewalks, and water- 
supply pipes, which are made by special assessments. 

The Board fixes the special assessments for these im- 
provements, hears complaints, and considers objections 
to proposed improvements. 

There, are four members of the Board, with salaries 
of $3,000 each. Their chief attorney receives a salary 
of $5,000. The Superintendent of Special Assessments 
receives a salary of $4,000. 

The Board organizes its own bureaus, as follows : 
The Bureau of Streets and Alleys. 
The Bureau of Water. 
The Bureau of Sewers. 
The Bureau of Sidewalks. 
The Bureau of Special Assessments. 
Kinds of Pavement. — The paving of streets is a sub- 
ject which is continually agitated. On January 1, 1905, 
there were 625.42 miles of cedar-block pavement, 
457.63 miles of macadam, 43.25 miles of granite block, 
220.08 miles of sheet asphalt, 2.28 miles of asphalt 
block, 80.79 miles of brick, 1.45 miles of Medina stone, 

103 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

2.01 miles of novaculite, .57 miles of rock asphalt, and 
3.80 miles of slag. The total miles of paved streets 
and alleys was 1,438. There were also 2,746 miles 
impaved, making a total of 4,184 miles of city streets 
and alleys. 

Sidewalks. — By computation from the prices paid 
by the city for different kinds of sidewalks, it appears 
that cement w^alks cost 15.65 cents per square foot; 
cinder walks, 32.9 cents per lineal foot, and plank 
walks, 43.72 cents per lineal foot. The standard width 
of the walks is six feet. 

THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICITY 

The Department of Electricity includes : 

The Bureau of Municipal Lighting. 

The Bureau of Fire-alarm Telegraph. 

The Bureau of Police TelegrapJi. 

The Bureau of Electrical Inspection. 

The Bureau of Gas-lighting and Repairs. 

The Bureau of Automobile License. 
The last annual report of this department presents 
an exhibit of the various causes of injury to persons 
in electric-car accidents. From this it appears that 
1,536 persons were so injured, nineteen of whom were in- 
jured by " hitching on " cars, or '' flipping." The largest 
number w^ere injured by cars striking vehicles, the 
next largest by cars striking persons, these two causes 
covering about one half of all the accidents. 

103 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The City Electrician has charge of the construction, 
repair, and maintenance of the city's electric and gas 
lights, power-plants, and the police and fire-alarm tele- 
graphs. His salary is $5,000. 

The Bureau of Municipal Lighting 

The expense of lighting the streets in 1904 was $936,- 
482.22. 

On the last day of the year there were 24,955 gas 
lights, 6,478 gasoline lights, 698 rented electric lights, 
and 5,107 municipal electric lights in service throughout 
the city. 

The average cost per year of maintaining each arc 
light operated from a municipal plant was $54.36. The 
cost of each rented electric light was $103. 

The Bureau of Fire-alarm Telegraph 

Every person should be acquainted with the means 
of giving a fire alarm, for no one can tell when or where 
a fire may break out. 

How to Give a Fire Alarm. — The best, and probably 
the quickest, means of notifying the Fire Department, 
if you are not near a fire-alarm box, is by use of the 
telephone. Every telephone should have near it a card 
giving the telephone number of the Fire Department, 
which is Main 0. The telephone call for police is 
Main 13. 

If a telephone is not available, or you are near to a 

104 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

fire-alarm box, which is always red in Chicago, and 
attached to a lamp-post, telegraph-pole, or some such 
thing, run at once to this fire-alarm box. Outside the 
box you will observe a handle; turn this handle until 
the box opens. A shrill bell will be rung when the 
handle is turned, and if a policeman is within hearing, 
he will run to your aid. 

Inside the box you will see a hook; pull this vigor- 
ously and let go suddenly. This gives an alarm at the 
Central Station, from which an alarm is sent to the 
nearest fire-engine house. The firemen will then ap- 
pear within a few minutes. 

In 1904 there were 8,928 fire alarms sent in. 

The Chief Operator of the Fire Alarm Telegraph 
receives a salary of $3,250; the Assistant Chief Op- 
erator, $1,800; Chief of Construction, $2,000; Oper- 
ators, from $1,200 to $1,600; Assistant Operators, 
$1,260; Repairers, $1,000 to $1,102.50; Linemen, $945; 
Chief of the Electric Repair-shops, $1,800; Machinist, 
$1,050; Assistant Machinist, $756. 

The total number of fire-alarm boxes now in service 
is 1,689. 

The Bureau of Police Telegraph 

The Department of Electricity operates the system 
of police telegraph, reporting to the Police Department. 

There are 1,031 patrol-boxes in service, and many of 
the police lines are also provided with telephone service. 

105 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The amount of work done by these Unes can hardly 
be appreciated. Pohcemen in every precinct report 
to the Central Station over these lines. In 1904, 
3,379,027 such reports were sent in, thus keeping the 
Central Station constantly informed as to the where- 
abouts of every patrolman in the city every hour of 
the day and night. 

Through the Police Telegraph, 71,826 alarms were 
responded to, 40,378 arrests were made, and 5,079 
fires were attended. When an alarm is sent in, it could 
be responded to by forty police-patrol wagons. 

How to Call a Policeman. — A key to each alarm-box 
is kept in some drug-store or public place near by, 
and when a policeman or a patrol- wagon is wanted, 
this key can be used to open the signal-box. Inside 
this box is a dial with ten spaces. On each space is a 
word, such as ''Accident," " Drunkard," " Fire," " Mur- 
der," " Riot," " Burglar," etc., indicating the reason for 
calling the police. The indicator, turned to any one of 
these words, and there left, gives an alarm at the nearest 
police-station, and a patrol-wagon immediately responds. 

A key may also be procured by any citizen, to be 
kept at his home, if he thinks he may have occasion 
to call the police. 

The Bureau of Electrical Inspection 

This Bureau has charge of inspecting the telegraph 
and telephone wires in theaters, halls, churches, school- 

106 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

houses, etc., and has power to order modern wiring to 
be installed, even in office buildings, department stores, 
factories, etc. The object is to prevent the outbreak 
of fires caused by faulty weiring. The electric signs on 
buildings are also inspected by this Department. A 
fee is charged for each inspection. These fees for 1904 
amounted to $49,121.14, the expenses to $23,155.54, 
leaving a net profit to the Bureau of $25,965.60. 

The Inspector of Gas-meters and Gas examines and 
tests any gas-meter furnished to any consumer of gas, 
whenever requested to do so. The cost for inspection 
is paid by the gas company if the meter is found to 
register too much, otherwise by the consumer. The 
required fee of $2.50 must be deposited in advance by 
the consumer. 



The Bureau of Gas-lighting and Repairs 

It is the business of this Bureau to keep the street- 
lamps in order, and a large part of the expense is 
caused by boys and others, who break the lamp- 
globes, either maliciously or by accident. The loss 
to the city in 1904 from this unnecessary source 
amounted to about $10,000. 

The street-signs are also kept in place by this Bu- 
reau. 

The net expense of the Bureau for the year was 
$30,181.60. 

107 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Bureau of Automobile License 

This Bureau was maintained during the year 1904 
at an expense of $744.25. The revenue from license fees 
amounted to $6,034, leaving a net revenue of $5,289.75. 

According to the ordinance requiring a license, the 
City Electrician, the Commissioner of Health, and 
the City Engineer constitute a board, ex officio , 
called the Board of Automobile Registry. No inde- 
pendent Bureau has yet been organized. The City 
Electrician is Chairman of the Board. 

It is the duty of this Board to examine every appli- 
cant for license, and see that he has free use of both 
hands and both arms, and is not less than eighteen years 
of age. He must also have good eyesight and hearing, 
and if he wears glasses they must be fastened to his 
face by spectacle-frames. He must be free from epilepsy 
or heart disease, must not use alcoholic liquors or any 
injurious drug to excess. He must not be of reckless 
disposition nor subject to fainting fits. He must also 
be familiar with the mechanism of the automobile 
which he desires to operate, and be able to guide and 
stop it quickly in case of an emergency. 

The license fee, good until the 1st of May following, 
is three dollars. 

The maximum speed at which an automobile may 
be driven on a street or alley is ten miles an hour, but 
in turning a corner the speed must not exceed four 
miles an hour. 

108 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

Every automobile must be supplied with strong 
brakes, an alarm bell or gong, and one or more lighted 
lamps at night. 

A person holding a license as chauffeur may not 
operate any other kind of auto-car than the one spe- 
cifically described in his license ; if he does so he is 
subject to a fine of not less than five dollars nor more 
than twenty-five dollars for each offense. 

An identification number must be displayed, not 
less than five inches high, on the rear of the machine, 
in plain sight; automobiles engaged in the trans- 
portation of passengers for hire, or of merchandise, or 
for any other business purpose, must also have a letter 
or letters to indicate the person, firm, or corporation 
by whom the machine is owned. 

All numbers have to be changed at the office of the 
Board on May 1st of each year. 

Between sunset and daybreak a red light must be 
displayed directly to the rear, and a white light must 
shine on the numbers and letters of the machine. 

About two thousand new automobile licenses were 
issued in 1904. 

THE BOARD OF EDUCATION 

The offices of the Board of Education are at pres- 
ent located on the sixth, seventh, and eighth floors 
of the Tribune Building. 

109 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Board consists of twenty-one members, who are 
appointed by the Mayor, seven each year. 
. Regular meetings of the Board are held on alter- 
nate Wednesday evenings. 

The School Superiritendents — The superintendents^ 
comprise one General Superintendent, two Assistant 
Superintendents, six District Superintendents, a Super- 
intendent of Compulsory Education, a Superintend- 
ent of the Parental School, and Supervisors of Drawing 
in High Schools, Physical Culture, Manual Training 
and Household Arts, Schools for the Deaf, Schools 
for the Blind, and a Director of Scientific Pedagogy 
and Child Study. 

The general offices are open from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m., 
Saturday to 1 p. m. The President's hours are from 
4 to 6 P. M. ; Business Manager's, from 4 to 5 p. m. ; 
the Superintendent's, Tuesday and Thursday, from 
3 to 5 P. M., Saturday from 9 to 12 a. m. ; the other 
Superintendents and Supervisors, on Saturday from 
9 to 12 A. M., and 4 to 5 p. m. on stated days. 

The public schools of the city include the Chicago 
Normal School, the Normal Practice School, the 
Yale Practice School, the Parental School, the John 
Worthy School, 14 High Schools, 233 elementary 
schools, and one Manual Training High School. 

In connection with these schools, special instruction 
is given to crippled children, the blind, the deaf, ap- 
prentices, and kindergartens. Evening schools are 

110 



THE CITY GOVERN ]\IENT 

also open during the winter months, and some finan- 
cial assistance is given to the vacation schools in 
summer. 

The total enrollment in the evening schools in 
1903-04 was 17,117. 

The total enrollment in the public schools in 1904-05 
was 282,346 pupils and 5,695 teachers. 

The total enrollment of pupils in high schools was 
12,395 ; in the Normal School, September 22, 1905, 410. 

The cost of maintaining the schools for 1903-04 was 
$•9,399,727.57, of which $5,284,664.12 was for salaries 
of the teaching force, including superintendents, and $4,- 
191,033.35 for other items charged to the educational 
fund. The salaries of elementary teachers amounted 
to $4,073,808.51; of high school teachers, to $505,- 
140.71 ; of superintendents, principals, and special 
teachers, to $629,745. 

The expenses of the High Schools were $578,528.98; 
of the Manual Training High School, $92,615.99; of 
the Normal School, $74,376.68 ; of the Parental School, 
$76,422.29; of the John Worthy School, $27,031.14; 
of the Evening Schools, $112,578.79; of instruction of 
the deaf, $17,773.47; of instruction of the blind, $4,- 
135.41; of vacation schools, $1,000. 

The total expense of maintaining tliese high and 
special schools was $984,462.75. 

The Kindergartens cost $155,138.41; Manual Train- 
ing, $52,099.32; Household Arts, $23,484.49; Draw- 

111 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

ing, $14,498.97; Music, $10,314.01; Physical Culture, 
$15,854.64, making a total of $271,389.84 for special 
studies in the elementary schools. 

There are three hundred and eight public school 
buildings in the city, valued at $28,867,055, including 
furniture. The total seating capacity is 245,563. 

Business Manager of School Board. — A Business 
Manager is employed to take charge of the repairs of 
school buildings and furnish supplies to the schools ; 
drawing-paper, pencils, tablets, pens, and penholders 
being furnished free to pupils. 

Text-books are furnished free to pupils whose par- 
ents are too poor to purchase them ; all others are sold 
at prices uniform throughout the city, by agreement 
with publishers when the books are adopted. 

Salaries of Teachers 

General Superintendent, $10,000. 

District Superintendents, $3,500 for the first two 
years and $4,000 thereafter. 

Assistant Superintendents, $2,000 for the first year, 
increasing $250 per year to $3,000. 

Supervisor of Manual Training and Household Arts, 
$3,000. 

Supervisor of Physical Culture, $3,000. 

Supervisor of Drawing in High Schools, $2,400. 

Supervisor of Schools for the Blind, $1,500. 

Supervising Principal of Schools for the Deaf, $1,500. 

113 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

Special Teachers of Drawing, Elementary Schools, 
$1,400. 

Special Teachers of Music, Elementary Schools, 
$1,400. 

Director of Child Study Department, $2,000. 

Assistant Director Child Study Department, $1,500. 

Principal Normal School, $5,000. 

Vice-Principal Normal School, $3,000. 

Heads of Departments, Normal School, $2,000 first 
year, increasing $100 per year to $2,500. 

Instructors in Normal School, $1,000 to $2,000. 

Teachers in Normal Practice Schools, $200 per year 
more than corresponding schedule in Elementary 
Schools. 

Superintendent of Parental School, $3,000. 

Family Instructors in Parental School, $50 to $75 
per month and board. 

Teachers in Parental School, $90 to $125 per month. 

Principal John Worthy School, $150 per month. 

Teachers in John Worthy School, $90 to $100 per 
month. 

Principals of Elementary Schools, $1,200 for first 
year, increasing $100 per year to $2,200. 

Head iVssistants, $950 to $1,125. 

Teachers in Elementary Schools, $850 to $1,000. 

Teachers of Household Arts, Deaf, and Crippled 
Children, $200 per year more than teachers in Elemen- 
tary Schools. 

113 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Teachers of Manual Training and Physical Culture 
in Elementary Schools, $750 to $1,400. 

Principals of High Schools, $2,000 to $3,000. 
Instructors in High Schools, $850 to $2,000. 
Special teachers of German, French, and Drawing 
in High Schools, $750 to $1,500. 

Teachers of Physical Culture in High Schools, $1,200 
to $1,600. 

The average yearly salaries for 1903-04 were as 
follows : 

15 Principals of High Schools $2,960 

230 Principals of Elementary Schools 2,266 

21 Instructors in Normal School 2,005 

361 Instructors in High Schools 1,436 

221 Head Assistants in Elementary Schools . 1,105 
31 Teachers of Manual Training and Physi- 
cal Culture, Elementary Schools 1,068 

85 Teachers of Household Arts, Deaf and Crip- 
pled Children, and Teachers in Normal 

Practice Schools 1,010 

4,545 Teachers in Elementary Schools 812 

The average salary of all teachers in Elementary 
Schools, not including Principals, was $832.75. 

Of the 308 school buildings, about one half are 
heated by steam, one fourth by furnaces, and one 
fourth by stoves. 

The schoolrooms are ventilated, as far as possible, 
so as to give each pupil 30 cubic feet of fresh air per 

114 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

minute. The seats are all located, when practicable, 
so as to have the light come from the left side. 

The forenoon session is from 9 to 11:45; the after- 
noon session from 1 : 30 to 3 : 30. 




AUDUBON SCHOOL 



Compulsory Education. — A Superintendent of Com- 
pulsory Education, with twelve inspectors, is appointed 
to see that all children between the ages of seven and 
fourteen, who do not go to some private school, are in 
attendance on the public schools. This department 



115 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

returned 25,597 children to public and private schools 
during the year ending June 26, 1905, of which number 
about one third were duplicate offenses, leaving about 
17,000 different children who were returned one or more 
times. Of these, 2,088 were taken off the public streets. 

The School Census. — Every year the state appro- 
priates $300,000 for school purposes. In order to dis- 
tribute this money equitably, a school census is required 
to be taken every year to determine the number of chil- 
dren of school age. In Chicago, however, the census is 
taken only once in two years, and usually in May. 

According to the school census of 1904, there were 
4,721 persons in Chicago, twenty-one years of age and 
over, who could neither read nor write, and 210 be- 
tween twelve and twenty-one years of age. 

There w^ere 16,189 children between fifteen and 
twenty-one years of age attending the public schools, 
8,993 attending other schools, and 136,920 not attend- 
ing any school. 

Between six and fifteen years of age, there were 
220,983 attending public schools, 58,805 attending other 
schools, and 23,562 not attending any school. 

Between four and six years of age, there were 8,761 
in the public schools, 3,909 in other schools, and 56,053 
not attending any school. 

The number under four years of age not attending 
school was 146,417. 

All new buildings hereafter constructed for school 

116 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 



purposes are to be supplied with an assembly hall, 
kindergarten, bathroom, manual training, and cook- 
ing-room. Buildings over two stories in height will be 
entirely fireproof and lighted by electricity. All assem- 
bly halls will be on the ground-floor. 

A Comparative Showing.— The increase in expen- 
ditures for police, fire department, and street-cleaning 
has not kept pace during the last ten years with that 
for general school purposes, as will be seen by the fol- 
lowing comparison of expenditures : 

1895 

Pohce $3,421,875 

Fire Department . . 1,594,610 
Street-cleaning .... 271,213 
Education 4,153,421 

This shows that all who enjoy the benefits of the 
schools should contribute in every way possible to help 
the police, firemen, and those w^ho try to keep our 
streets and alleys clean. The figures show that ex- 
penditures for the schools have increased at a much 
greater rate than those for the other departments 
named. 

III. THE JUDICIAL DEPARTMENT 

In the Judicial Department may be included the 
Police and Justice Courts. 

Police Magistrates. — There are eighteen police courts 

117 





Increase 


1904 


about 


$3,545,923 


3i% 


1,764,341 


10 " 


274,531 


1 " 


6,670,605 


60 " 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 



in the twelve police districts. Each court is entitled 
to one justice of the peace, designated by the Mayor, 




JUSTICE COURT, HARRISON STREET POLICE STATION 

one clerk, and one bailiff. These justices are known as 
police magistrates. ' 

Justices of the Peace. — The justices of the peace are 
appointed by the governor, on the recommendation of 
the judges of the county courts. The justices hold 
office for four years and until their successors have 
(i[ualified. There are fifty-two now serving in Chicago. 

lis 



T H p: city government 

The jurisdiction of the justice courts is Hmited in ac- 
tions for debt, damages, or the recovery of money, to 
the amount of $200. 

Justices and constables are paid by fees, and such 
abuses have arisen from this practice that measures 
have been adopted to do away with the entire system. 

The fees collected by the police magistrates are 
turned over to the city, and they are paid salaries rang- 
ing from $2,500 to $5,400. 

The jurisdiction of police magistrates is limited to 
criminal cases where the punishment is imprisonment 
in the House of Correction or a fine not exceeding 
$200. In cases where the punishment is imprisonment 
in the jail or penitentiary, they hold the accused to the 
grand jury, provided sufficient evidence is presented. 

The New City Courts. — By act of legislature passed 
in April, 1905, a new system of city courts will be inau- 
gurated in 1906. The justices of the peace and con- 
stables in Chicago will give way to the Municipal Court 
of Chicago, which will comprise one Chief Justice and 
twenty-seven Associate Justices. These will be elected 
for the first time in November, 1906. The salary of the 
Chief Justice is to be $7,500 a year, and that of the 
Associate Justices, $6,000. 



119 



VARIOUS CITY ORDINANCES 

The ordinances of the city provide very definitely, 
expHcitly, and in detail for the preservation of the pub- 
lic health, the neat appearance of the streets, the pro- 
tection of life and property, and the decent and ord rly 
conduct of all persons within the city, and every child 
and adult should take care to respect the rights and 
privileges of others, and the observance of law and 
order at all times. If there is any doubt as to one's 
privileges in any respect, the best way is to consult the 
City Code, for it is very full and comprehensive, and 
it is very likely that any questionable act is prohibited 
by the imposition of a fine. 

For example, one may not kill any bird within the 
city, distribute handbills or circulars in any public 
place, spit on the sidewalks, remove sod from any pub- 
lic lot, engage in any game or show, either in a public 
place, or in a public window, or on private premises, 
which causes persons to assemble and obstruct the pub- 
lic passageway, throw any stone or other missile in 
a street or alley, fly a kite in any street or public place, 
and many other things which might in some way inter- 
fere with the rights or privileges of others, or cause 
personal harm of any kind. 

Cruelty to Animals. — A person guilty of cruelty to 

120 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

any animal is subject to a fine of from three dollars to 
one hundred dollars. Cruelty may consist in over- 
loading, overdriving, or cruelly beating a horse, or in 
underfeeding or neglecting it. 

Amusements. — To regulate and license theatrical, 
dramatic, and operatic entertainments, shows, field- 
games, etc., these forms of amusement are divided into 
sixteen classes, and each class is required to pay a spe- 
cial license fee, except when they are presented in a 
duly licensed theater, opera-house, or hall. Fines are 
imposed for every violation of this ordinance. 

Application for license must be made in writing to 
the Mayor, and the license is issued by the City Clerk, 
under instructions from the Mayor. 

Theater Tickets Bought from Scalpers. — Tickets of 
admission to any place of amusement must have printed 
on their face the price of the ticket and the date of 
the entertainment, also a notice that such ticket is a 
revocable license, and is not good for admission if 
bought from any broker, speculator, or scalper for 
more than the price printed on the ticket. The man- 
ager of the entertainment is forbidden to accept the 
ticket if he knows it was sold for a higher price. A 
fine of $25 to $200 is imposed for each violation of this 
ordinance. 

Bill-posting. — It is unlawful to post bills or adver- 
tisements of any kind on the curbstones or sidewalks, 
or on any tree, lamp-post, hitching-post, pole, hydrant, 

131 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

bridge, pier, or any other structure within the Umits of 
the street, or on any private wall, window, door, gate, i| 
fence, or any other private structure, without the written 
consent of the owner, agent, or lessee. 

It is unlawful to post any advertisement of certain 
medicines or remedies for curing certain specified dis- 
eases in any place within the city, where it can be seen 
from streets, alleys, or other public places. It is also 
unlawful to post pictures or illustrations of an obscene 
or immoral character in such public places. 

Blasting, — Before one may fire a blast within the 
city, a permit must be obtained and a bond given of 
$10,000 to protect the lives and property of citizens in 
the vicinity. Furthermore, the blast must be covered 
so that all danger to persons and property shall be ab- 
solutely prevented. Three minutes before firing, a red 
flag must be displayed on a staff not less than ten feet 
high, conspicuous within twenty-five feet of the place 
where the charge is placed, and the words '*A Blast " 
must be called out several times, loud enough to be 
distinctly heard two hundred feet from the point of 
discharge. 

Bread Must be Labeled. — Each loaf of bread offered 
for sale must have a label attached to it, showing its 
weight and the name of the manufacturer. If the loaf 
weighs less than one pound, the label must be not less 
than three inches square and be attached on top of the 
loaf. 

123 I 



li 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

Dogs. — Every person who owns or keeps a dog 
within the hmits of the city is required to pay an an- 
nual tax of two dollars for each one on or before 
May 1st. 

No dog is permitted by ordinance to run at large on 
any street or alley at any time, unless securely muzzled 
or led by a chain, to prevent him from biting any person 
or animal. The police are instructed to impound any 
dog running at large contrary to the ordinance, and 
unless it is redeemed by its owner within five days, it 
is to be destroyed by the pound-keeper. 

Some Things Which are Unlawful. — There is a fine 
of not less than $25 for giving, in any way, a false 
alarm of fire. 

There is a fine of not less than $25 for making a bon- 
fire in any street, alley, or public place within the city. 

There is a fine of $5 to $25 for discharging any kind 
of firearm within the city, except under license duly 
issued by the City Clerk. 

No person is permitted to set off any kind of fireworks 
within the city, except by proclamation of the Mayor 
permitting it, as on the Fourth of July. 

There is a fine of $25 to $200 for selling or giving 
away any cigarettes or cigarette-paper without first ob- 
taining a license, and the same fine for selling or giving 
away any tobacco product, of any form, within six 
hundred feet of a building used for school purposes. 

There is a fine of $10 to $100 for gathering to use, or 

123 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

for using in any way, for sale, the stumps of cigars and 
cigarettes thrown away in the streets, alleys, saloons, etc. 

Legal Fares for Hacks and Cabs 
For Two-horse Vehicles 

One or two passengers, one mile or less $1.00 

Each additional passenger, first mile, or part || 

thereof only 50 

One or more passengers, for second mile and 
subsequent miles, or part thereof. Fare for 
all for each mile, or part thereof .50 

Children between 5 and 14 years of age, when 
accompanied by adult, not more than half 
the above rates. 

Children under 5, accompanied by adult, free. 

One or more passengers, by the hour, with 
privilege of going and stopping at pleas- 
ure, first hour 2.00 

Each additional hour, or part thereof, per hour. . 1.50 

If a hack, hired by the hour, is discharged be- 
fore returning to starting-place, the driver 
may charge for the time required to return. 

For One-horse Vehicles 

One or two passengers, not exceeding one mile. . $0.50 
Each additional passenger, first mile, or part 

thereof 25 

134 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

One or more passengers, for second mile and 
subsequent miles, or part thereof. Fare for 

all for each mile, or part thereof $0.£5 

Children between 5 and 14 years of age, when 

accompanied by adult, not more than half the 

above rates. 

Children under 5, accompanied by adult, free. 

One or more passengers, by the hour, with 

pjivilege of going and stopping at pleasure, 

first hour 1.00 

Each additional hour, or part thereof, per hour 1.00 
When hired by the hour, the driver may charge 
for time required to return to starting-point. 
Every passenger may carry with him, without extra 
charge, traveling baggage not exceeding seventy-five 
pounds in weight. 

Rates of fare for automobiles seating four persons 
are the same as for two-horse vehicles; and for auto- 
mobiles seating three persons the rates are the same as 
for one-horse vehicles. 



125 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE CITY 
GOVERNMENT 

I. LEGISLATIVE. 

1. Mayor and City Council. 

II. EXECUTIVE. 

1. General Government. 

(1) Mayor and City Clerk. 

(2) Law. 

(a) Corporation Counsel. 

(b) City Attorney. 

(c) Prosecuting Attorney. 

(3) Finance. 

(a) City Comptroller. 

(b) City Treasurer. 

(c) City Collector. 

(d) City Paymaster. 

(4) Civil Service. 

(5) Elections. 

(6) Supplies. 

(7) Art Commission. 

(8) City Market. 

(9) Special Park Commission. 

(10) Track Elevation. 

(11) Statistics. 

2. Public Safety. 
(1) Police. 

(a) Detective Bureau. 
(6) Identification. 

136 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

(c) Records. 

(d) Municipal Lodging-house. 

(e) Vehicle Inspection. 
(/) Construction. 

(g) Dog- pound. 

(2) House of Correction. 

(3) Fire. 

(4) Building. 

(5) Health. 

(6) Inspection. 

(a) Oil. 

(b) Boiler and Smoke. 

(c) Weights and Measures. 

(7) Pounds. 

(8) Examining Engineers. 

3. Public Works. 

(1) Engineering. 

(a) Water-supply. 

(6) Water-pipe Extension. 

(c) Bridges and Viaducts. 

{d) Harbors. 

{e) Architecture. 

(2) Water, 

(a) Permit Division. 

(6) Meter Mechanical Division. 

(c) Shut-off Division. 

{d) Accounting Division. 

{e) Inspection Division. 

(/) x\ssessors' Division. 

{g) Collection Division. 

(3) Seivers. 

(a) House-drain Division. 

137 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

(b) Sewage-pumping Stations. 

(c) Bench Monuments and Street Grades. 

(d) Intercepting-sewers. 

(e) Cleaning Sewers and Catch-basins. 

(4) Streets. 

(a) Permits. 

(b) Street and Alley Cleaning. 

(c) Garbage Removal. 

(d) Repairs. 

(5) Maps and Plats. 

4. Local Improvements. 

(1) Streets and Alleys. 

(2) Water. 

(3) Sewers. 

(4) Sidewalks. 

(5) Special Assessments. 

5. Electricity. 

(1) Municipal Lighting. 

(2) Fire-alarm Telegraph. 

(3) Police Telegraph. 

(4) Electrical Inspection. 

(5) Gas-lighting and Repairs. 

(6) Automobile License. 

6. Education. 

(1) Superintendents. 

(2) Compulsory Education. 

(3) School Census. 

ill. JUDICIAL. 

1. Police Courts. 

2. Justice Courts. 

138 



THE NEW CITY CHARTER 

On the 22d of April, 1903, the state legislature 
passed a resolution which opened the way for a new 
charter for the city of Chicago. It was deemed neces- 
sary for the whole municipal organization to be revised 
and simplified. 

The people of the state voted in November, 1904, to 
change the constitution so as to empower the legisla- 
ture to provide a new charter for the city, and steps 
were immediately taken toward that end. 

On May 6, 1905, the legislature passed an enabling 
act which made many of the desired changes possible. 

On November 7, 1905, the people of the city voted 
in favor of the new charter, and it will be framed and 
adopted as soon as practicable. 

This new charter will give the city several new and 
much-needed privileges, among which are the follow- 
ing: 

The Mayor's term of office is increased from two 
years to four years ; the city is given authority to sell 
surplus electricity from its municipal lighting plants for 
heat, light, and power, and to fix just and reasonable 
maximun rates for the supply of gas or electricity for 
power, heat, or light furnished by any individual, com- 
pany, or corporation ; the office of City Attorney is done 

139 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

away with, the duties of that office being combined 
with those of Corporation Counsel ; the city is given the 
right to acquire municipal parks, playgrounds, public 
beaches, and bathing-places, and equip and maintain 
the same; the City Council is given power to fix the 
compensation of all city officers, and all fees must be 
paid into the city treasury, including the interest on pub- 
lic funds, which is at present a perquisite of the City 
Treasurer, the funds to be deposited with the banks 
offering the highest rate of interest; no member of the 
City Council may hold any other salaried civil office 
under Federal, state, or city government, except in the 
National Guard, or as a master in chancery, or notary 
public; the City Council is given power to regulate the 
use of space over the streets, alleys, or public places, 
and may, for proper compensation, permit the use of 
space of more than twelve feet above them ; the Mayor 
is given the power to release any person imprisoned 
for violation of any city ordinance, appointing, if he 
sees fit, a pardon board of three persons, consisting of 
the Superintendent of the House of Correction and any 
two inspectors whom he may select. 

TAXATION IN CHICAGO 

The General Assembly of the state levies taxes to 
cover the state expenses. The Governor, the Audi- 
tor, and the Treasurer constitute a board to determine 
the rate per cent required to produce the amount levied. 

130 



THE CITY GOVERNMENT 

There are now eleven taxing boards within the limits 
of Chicago, which make annual levies as follows : 

1. State Tax. — For state purposes, from 50 to 60 
cents on the $100 assessed valuation. 

2. County Tax. — For county purposes, levied by 
the county board, not to exceed 75 cents on the $100. 

3. City Tax. — For city purposes, levied by the 
Mayor and Council, limited to $2 on the $100. 

4. School Tax. — Levied separately by the Mayor 
and City Council, limited to $2.50 on the $100. 




MRS. POTTER PALMER's RESIDENCE 
131 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

5. Library Tax. — Levied separately by the Mayor 
and Council, limited to 10 cents on the $100. 

6. Sanitary District. — Levied by the Board of Trus- 
tees. 

7. South Park System. — Levied by the South Park 
Commissioners for parks in the towns of South Chicago, 
Hyde Park, and Lake. 

8. West Park System, — Levied by the West Chicago 
Park Commissioners for parks in the town of West 
Chicago. 

9. Lincoln Park. — Levied by the County Treas- 
urer, acting as ex-officio supervisor, since the Lincoln 
Park Commissioners are not "corporate authorities." 

10. Ridge Park. — A small district in Rogers Park. 
Levied by a board of five commissioners. 

11. North Shore Park District. — Organized like 
Ridge Park District, by popular vote. 

The average rate of taxation for all purposes in 1904 
was 6.391 per cent. 



133 



CHICAGO'S INSTITUTIONS AND 
INDUSTRIES 

THE PARKS OF CHICAGO 

The parks of the city are under the supervision of 
four distinct boards; viz., the South Park Commission- 
ers, the West Park Commissioners, the Lincoln Park 
Commissioners, and the Special Park Commissioners. 

The Commissioners of the South Park Board, five 
in number, are appointed by the judges of the Circuit 
Court for a period of five years ; those of the West and 
Lincoln Park boards, seven each, are appointed by 
the Governor. (For the Special Park Commission, see 
page 55.) 

The parks are maintained by funds derived from a 
direct tax upon the three divisions of the city. They 
include also the boulevards connecting them, as far as 
completed. Drexel and Grand boulevards are said to 
be the finest carriage-drives on the continent. They 
are two hundred feet wide and magnificently adorned 
with floral decorations, and are lined on either side 
with beautiful and costly residences. 

The whole number of parks in the city is now nearly 
one hundred, covering between three thousand five 
hundred and three thousand six hundred acres, includ- 

133 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

ing the boulevards. The boulevards extend about 
forty-eight miles, in all. 

There is also an Outer Belt Park Commission, which 
was organized in 1903 for the purpose of securing the 




THE BEGINNING OF GRAND BOULEVARD 



necessary legislation for opening an outer belt line of 
parks and boulevards within the county, and encir- 
cling the city from Calumet on the south to Winnetka 
on the north. 

The establishment of a *' Forest Preserve District " 
was voted on in November, 1905, but the result of the 
vote remains to be decided by the Supreme Court. 

134 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

At the spring election in 1905 a bond issue was 
voted, amounting to two million five hundred thousand 
dollars, for the improvement of the South Park sys- 




MICHIGAN AVENUE 



tem. This was taken by popular subscription. A 
large portion of this money, probably one million dol- 
lars, will be expended on Grant Park. In Jackson Park 
about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars will be 
expended; in Washington Park, about one hundred 
thousand dollars. 



135 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The South Park system has been very greatly en- 
larged and improved within the last three years. This 
system now comprises Jackson Park, of five hundred 
and twenty-four acres; Washington Park, of three 
hundred and seventy-one acres ; Midway Plaisance, of 
eighty acres ; Gage Park, of twenty acres ; Grant Park, 
of two hundred and eleven acres ; and all the connect- 
ing boulevards. In addition to these, fifteen other 
parks have been acquired within the last four years, 
comprising, in all, about seven hundred acres. The 
land for the new parks has cost $1,800,000 and the 
improvements $2,575,000. 

A unique feature of these new parks is the field-house 
in each, comprising a gymnasium for men and boys, 
and another for women and girls, with trained physi- 
cal directors; also baths, reading-rooms, luncheon- 
counters, club-rooms, and an assembly-hall. Outside 
of each building are also gymnasiums, swimming-pools, 
and band-stands. Branch libraries are to be estab- 
lished in some of them, and other features will be 
added for the pleasure and benefit of residents in the 
neighborhood. 

Jackson Park is famous for having been the site of the 
World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It contains 
five hundred and twenty- four acres, and is the largest 
of the city parks. In it is located the Field Columbian 
Museum of Ethnology, Natural History, and Archae- 
ology. The museum is open from 9 a. m. to 4 p. M. 

136 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

Admission is free on Saturday and Sunday; on other 
days an admission fee of twenty-five cents is charged. 

Lincohi Park. — This is the oldest of the greater city 
parks. The south sixty acres was originally one of the 
main cemeteries of the city. In 1865 an ordinance was 




LAGOON IN LINCOLN PARK 



passed forbidding any more burials in this cemetery, 
and in 1869 the state legislature passed an act creating 
the Board of Lincoln Park Commissioners ; but the 
park was not legally opened till 1874. Lincoln Park 
now contains five hundred and thirteen acres, and is 
nearly as large as Jackson Park. It is the most popu- 
lar of all the city parks, and contains one of the largest 
and most complete zoological gardens in the world. 

137 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Monuments in Lincoln Park. 

1. Lincoln Monument. Designed by St. Gaudens. 
Erected in 1887 by a bequest of Eli Bates, amounting 
to $50,000. The inscription on the monument is from 




/ -w 





LINCOLN MONUMENT, LINCOLN PARK 

the immortal speech of Lincoln at Gettysburg: "With 
malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness 
in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 
on. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in 
that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we 
understand it." 



138 



■Aiiiill 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

2. Grant Equestrian Statue. Erected by the citi- 
zens of Chicago, by popular subscriptions of one dollar 
or more ; it is said to be the largest bronze figure ever cast 
in America. Its cost was $65,000. It is eighteen feet 
three inches in 

height. At its un- 
veiling in 1891, it 
is said that one 
hundred and fifty 
thousand persons 
were assembled to 
witness the cere- 
mony. 

3. Indian 
Group — '' The 
Alarm." The gift 
of Martin A. Ry- 
erson in 1884. 

Cost q5l4,000. CLOSE VIEW GRANT MONUMENT, LINCOLN PARK 

4. Statue of 

Schiller. Presented by the German-American Society 
of Chicago in 1886. Cost $8,000. 

5. Statue of Robert Cavelier de La Salle. Pre- 
sented by Judge Lambert Tree in 1889. 

6. Statue of Linne (Linnaeus.) Presented by Swe- 
dish-American citizens in 1891. 

7. Statue of Shakespeare. Presented by English 
citizens in 1893. 





139 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

8. Statue of Benjamin Franklin. Presented by 
Joseph Medill in 1896. 

9. Statue of Hans Christian Andersen. Presented 




STATUE OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN 



by the Hans Christian Andersen Memorial Association 
in 1896. 

10. Equestrian Statue of Indian Messenger — ** The 

140 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

Signal of Peace." Presented by Judge Lambert Tree 
in 1894. 

11. Bust of Beethoven. Presented by Carl Wolf- 
solm in 1897. 

There are also statues of Garibaldi, Goethe, and a 




A VIEW IN LINCOLN PARK, SHOWING GRANT MONUMENT 

boulder with inscription which marks the approximate 
burial place of David Kennison, the last survivor of the 
"Boston Tea Party." 

The Academy of Sciences is in Lincoln Park, oppo- 

141 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 




EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF GENERAL JOHN A. LOGAN 

site Center Street. The museum is open from 9 A. m. 
till 5 p. M. on Wednesdays, and from 1 to 5 p. m. on 
Sundays. There is no charge for admission. 

143 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 



I 



Other Monuments in the City. — In Union Park there 
is a monument to commemorate the Haymarket Riot. 

In Garfield Park there is a statue of Queen Vic- 
toria. 

In Grant Park 
there is an eques- 
trian statue of Major- 
General John A. 
Logan. 

At the foot of 
Thirty-fifth Street 
there is a monument 
surmounted by a 
statue of Stephen A. 
Douglas. 

At the corner of 
Calumet Avenueand 
Eighteenth Street is 
a statue commemo- 
rating the Fort 
Dearborn massacre, 
erected by George 
M. Pullman. 

At Grand Boule- 
vard and Fifty-first 
Street there is a statue 
; of Washington. 




DOUGLAS MONUMENT 



143 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

In Humboldt Park there are statues of Humboldt, 
Leif Ericson, Reuter, and Kosciusko. : 

In Lincoln Park is an immense electric fountain 
which was presented by Charles T. Yerkes. This foun- 
tain plays regularly two evenings a week during the 
summer months, and draws great crowds of people 
from all parts of the city. 

Grant Park, on the lake front, from Park Row to the 
river, is being enlarged to five times its present size, and 
will be elaborately improved. The Field Columbian 
Museum will be located in the center of the park. The 
present area of Grant Park is about two hundred and 
eleven acres. 

Washington Park contains three hundred and 
seventy-one acres; Douglas Park, one hundred and 
eighty-two acres ; Garfield Park, one hundred and 
eighty-eight acres ; Humboldt Park, two hundred and 
six acres ; Marquette Park, now being established be- 
tween Sixty-seventh and Seventy-first streets, and Cal- 
ifornia and Central Park avenues, three hundred and 
twenty-three acres. 

The total number of acres in parks of the South Side 
is 1,974.86; of the West Side, 651.72; of the North 
Side, 536.35. 

Order in Which the Parks ivere Established. 
1839 — Dearborn Park, now occupied by the Public 
Library building. I 

144 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 



1842 — Washington Square, a part of Bushnell's Addi- 
tion. 

1848 — Jefferson Park, given by the Canal Trustees. 

1854 — Union Park, comprising seventeen acres; at 
that time the principal park of the city. 

1855— Ellis Park. 




A SCENE IN LINCOLN PARK 

145 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

1857 — Vernon Park. 

1865 — The name "Lincoln" was given to a sixty-acre 
tract on the lake shore between Webster Avenue and 
Menominee Street, a portion of which was used as a 
cemetery. Burials were then prohibited in the park, 
and ten thousand dollars was appropriated for im- 
provements. 

Cottage Grove Avenue was so named from a grove at 
the foot of Thirty-fifth Street, in which was the late Sena- 
tor Douglas's residence, and where the Douglas Monu- 
ment now stands. Woodland and Groveland parks, 
and the grounds of the original Chicago University, 
were also portions of the Douglas estate. 

1868^Wicker Park. 

1869 — The chain of parks connecting Lincoln, Hum- 
boldt, Garfield, Douglas, Washington, and Jackson 
parks was established. 

Thirty-four other small parks were established be- 
fore 1870. 

1899 — Organization of the Special Park Commission, 
which has already added many new parks, and set on 
foot measures which will soon add hundreds of acres 
to Chicago's park area; and if the Forestry Preserve 
District is established, several thousand acres will be- 
come a park for the people of the city and county. 



146 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

Chicago's Leading Libraries 

Chicago Public Library. — Located on Michigan Ave- 
nue and Washington Street. 

The interior of the building presents one of the most 




CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY 



artistic examples of interior decoration to be found in 
the United States. 

The circulating department is open from 9 a. m. to 
6 : 30 p. M., except Sundays. 

147 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The reading-room and reference department are open 
from 9 A. M. to 10 p. m. on week-days, and from 9 a. m. 
to 6 p. M. on Sundays. 

The library is free to all residents of Chicago. 

The number of volumes in the library June 30, 
1905, was 305,575. 

There is a fine of not less than five dollars for tearing, 
marking, or in any way injuring any book or paper be- 
longing to the library; also a fine of one dollar to ten 
dollars for not returning a book which has been drawn 
from the library. 

The Blackstone Memorial Branch of the Public Li- 
brary is on Lake Avenue, at the corner of Forty-ninth 
Street. 

There are six Branch Reading-rooms, which are open 
afternoons and evenings. 

There are thirteen free delivery stations on the North 
Side, twenty-five on the South Side, and thirty on the 
West Side. 

Newberry Library. — Located on North Clark Street 
and Walton Place, facing Washington Square. 

In 1868 Walter S. Newberry bequeathed more than 
$2,000,000 for the establishment of a library on the 
North Side. This fund is now much increased. 

The library is open from 9 a. M. to 10 p. m. every day, 
except Sunday. 

In June, 1905, this library contained 277,046 vol- 
umes. 

148 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 



The library is open to the public, but the books may 
not be taken away. 

Field Columbian Museum Library. — This library, 
located in the Field Columbian Museum at Jackson 




FIELD MUSEUM, JACKSON PARK 



Park, is an outgrowth of the World's Fair of 1893. 
INIarshall Field pledged $1,000,000 toward the preser- 
vation of the valuable collection of curiosities and relics 
which had been gathered together at the Fair. 

The library is open to the public every week-day 
from 9 A.M. to 4:30 p.m., for reference purposes only. 



149 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

It is confined almost exclusively to works on anthro- 
pology, botany, geology, and zoology. The Ayer col- 
lection of ornithological works alone is said to be 
worth $30,000. 

The library, on September 30, 1904, contained about 
32,000 books and pamphlets. 

University of Chicago Library is located at the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, Fifty-eighth Street and Ellis Avenue. 




THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 



This library contains about 400,805 volumes and 
165,000 pamphlets. 

While this is a university library, for the special use 
of students and faculty, it may be consulted by the pub- 
lic on payment of a fee. 

150 



i 



i 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

The library was mostly purchased in Berlin, in 1892, 
at a cost of $600,000. It contains many rare volumes 
of great value. 

John Crerar Library. — Located at 87 Wabash Ave- 
nue, sixth floor. 

In 1890 John Crerar bequeathed $3,000,000 for a 
public library. This sum has increased since that time 
to $3,400,000. 

In June, 1905, this library contained 136,234 volumes 
and pamphlets, on social, physical, and natural sciences, 
and their applications. 

The library is free for consultation, but the books 
may not be taken away. 

The library is open daily, except Sunday, from 9 a. m. 
to 10 p. M. 

Leivis Institute Library. — Located on West Madison 
and Robey streets. Contains about 12,000 volumes. 

The library is open to the public, but only students 
and instructors in the Institute may take the books 
away. 

It is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except 
Saturday, when it is closed at 3 p. m. 

Chicago Historical Society Library. — Located on 
Dearborn Avenue, corner of Ontario Street. 

The library, museum, and portrait-gallery are open 
to the public from 9 a. M. to 5 p. M. on week-days. 

The library contains about 40,000 volumes, 75,000 
pamphlets, and a large collection of maps, views, etc. 

151 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Pullman Public Library. — Located at 73 to 77 Ar- 
cade Building, Pullman. It contains 9,000 volumes. 




SCENE IN PULLMAN 



The library is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., 
and from 7 p. m. to 9 p. m. 

Hammond Library. — Located at 43 Warren Ave- 
nue. 

This is a library of theological literature, containing 
about 23,000 volumes. It is intended for the use of 

153 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 



students and faculty of the Chicago Theological Semi- 
nary, but may be consulted by clergymen and others. 

It is open from September to May from 9 a. m. to 
12 M., and from 1 to 5 p. m., and from 7 to 10 p. m., ex- 
cept on Saturdays. 

Ryerson Library. — At the Art Institute, Michigan 
Avenue and Adams Street. Devoted exclusively to 
works on fine art. 

The library contains upwards of 3,500 bound vol- 
umes and 16,000 Braun autotypes. 

It is open daily, except Sundays and holidays, from 
9 A.M. to 5 P.M. 

The library is primarily for the use of students of the 
Institute, but may be consulted by the public. 

Academy of Science Library. — Located in Lincoln 
Park. 

The library consists chiefly of the publications of 
scientific societies, and is especially rich in the litera- 
ture of geology and physical science. 

It contains upwards of 19,852 volumes and pamph- 
lets. 

It is open from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. on week-days. 

St. Ignatius College Library. — Located at 413 West 
Twelfth Street. 

The library is intended chiefly for the students and 
faculty of the college, but may be consulted by others. 

It is open from 8 a. m. to 4 p. M. 

The library contains about 20,000 volumes. 

153 




MONADNOCK BUILDING 



154 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

Western Society of Engineers Library. — Located at 
1734 to 1741 Monadnock Block. Intended for the 
members of the society, but others may consult it. 

Open from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m., except Sundays and 
holidays. 

The library contains about 5,000 volumes. 

Chicago Law Institute Library. — This library is lo- 
cated temporarily at the Fort Dearborn Building. 

It is exclusively for the use of the legal profession. 

It contains about 40,000 volumes. 

Other Important Libraries 

Armour Mission, Thirty-third and Butterfield streets. 

Athenaeum Library, 26 Van Buren Street. 

Cobb's Library, 91 Wabash Avenue. 

Hebrew Librarv, 569 South Canal Street. 

Hyde Park Reading-room, 136 Fifty-third Street. 

Library of Methodist Episcopal Church, corner of 
Lincoln and Ambrose streets. 

Mission Society Library, 26 College Place. 

New Church Union Library, 17 Van Buren Street. 

Ravenswood Public Library, corner of Sulzer and 
Commercial streets. 

South Chicago Library, Bo wen School, corner of 
Ninety- third and Houston streets. 

Union Catholic Library, 94 Dearborn Street. 

Wheeler Library, 1113 Washington Boulevard. 

155 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Young Men's Christian Association Library, Asso- 
ciation Building. 

Chicago Theosophical Society, Athenseum Building. 

Church Club Library, 510 Masonic Temple. 

Temperance Reading-room, 851 West Garfield 
Boulevard. 

Theosophical Society Free Library, 511 Masonic 
Temple. 

Universal Brotherhood Free Library, 511 Masonic 
Temple. 

Virginia Library, 326 Belden Avenue. 

Western New Christian Union Book-room, 901 
Steinway Hall. 

Western Theological Library, 1113 Washington Boul- 
evard. 

Young Men's Christian Association Reading-room 
(Scandinavian), 318 West Erie Street. 

Northwestern University Library, Evanston. 

Evanston Public Library, City Hall, Evanston. 

Garrett Biblical Institute Library, Evanston. 

The Art Institute 

The Art Institute is located on the lake front, at 
the foot of Adams Street. 

It is open from 9 A. m. to 5 p. m. 

Admission is free on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and 
Sundays. On other days a fee of 25 cents is charged. 

156 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

The Institute was organized in 1879. Its present 
home at the foot of Adams Street was erected in 1893. 
It was formally opened to the public December 8, 




THE ART INSTITUTE 



1893, and has not been closed since, which cannot be 
said of any other museum of art in the world. 

All there is of the Institute has been the voluntary 
gift of the people of Chicago. Over 2,300 families 
contribute regularly to its support. The ground it 
occupies was given by the city. It is valued at $2,- 
000,000. Its building has cost $900,000. Its collec- 
tions are said to be worth $1,000,000. It expends an- 



157 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

nually more than $50,000 in the conduct of its museum 
lectures. It costs $51,000 a year to maintain its schools. 
For several years about 650,000 persons have visited 
the Institute annually, of whom over 600,000 were 
admitted free. The total enrollment of pupils in its 
school in 1904 was 2,504. Its small library of 4,000 
volumes was consulted in 1904 by nearly 52,000 persons. 
Chicago, as an art center, owes much to its Art Insti- 
tute. Prof. W. M. R. French has been Director of the 
Institute since its first opening. 

The Municipal Art League 

The Municipal Art League was incorporated Janu- 
ary 30, 1901, for the purpose of developing the artistic 
features of the city, in both public and private buildings 
and grounds. It is a private corporation, and possesses 
only advisory powers. Its board of directors includes 
the Mayor or the Commissioner of Public Works, three 
Park Commissioners, three sculptors, three architects, 
and three painters. 

Chicago Public School Art Society 

For the purpose of cultivating a taste for art and 
art works among the children of the public schools, an 
association was organized in 1894, which was later in- 
corporated as The Chicago Public School Art Society. 

158 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

This society now owns and has placed in sixty differ- 
ent schools about 550 pictures and casts, some of which 
are changed from one school to another twice each 
year. Necessary funds are provided by annual dues 
of members, entertainments, lectures, and gifts from 
citizens. 

The Coliseum 

The Coliseum is one of the largest buildings in the 
United States. It is two hundred by five hundred 
feet in extent. It is used for amusements, public 
gatherings, political and other conventions. It is lo- 
cated on Wabash Avenue, near Fifteenth Street. 

Street-railavays. 

The first street-car was seen in Chicago May 1, 1859. 
It ran on State Street, from Lake to Twelfth. There 
were five two-horse cars and one one-horse car. 

During the summer the track was extended south- 
ward to Twenty-second Street, along that street east- 
ward to Cottage Grove Avenue, and then south to 
Thirty-first Street. 

A double track was laid from Adams Street to Cot- 
tage Grove Avenue in 1860. 

Lines were also extended on the West Side, along 
Madison Street and Randolph Street to Ogden Avenue. 

159 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Another company constructed a line on North Clark 
Street from Kinzie Street to Fullerton Avenue, which 
was then the city limits. 

In 1863 the West Division Company purchased the 
West Side lines from the City Railway Company. 

There are now 2,253 cars on all the surface lines 
in Chicago, covering 1,265 miles of single track. 

Of the cars, 1,074 are cable-cars, 1,166 electric, and 
13 horse-cars. 

About nine hundred thousand passengers are carried 
on these surface lines every day. 

The total capital stock issued for the fifteen surface 
roads in Chicago aggregates $87,916,150. 

The capital of the five elevated roads amounts to 
$51,023,800, with one hundred and six miles of single 
track. 

Surface and elevated roads together represent a cap- 
ital of $138,939,950, and a mileage of one thousand 
three hundred and seventy-one miles. 

The annual traffic on the main surface lines in 1904 
amounted to 326,941,758, on the elevated lines, to 114,- 
878,504, or a grand total of 441,820,262. The daily 
average was 1,265,261. 

At the present time the surface-car system of Chicago 
is in a transition state. It is operated by two different 
companies — the Chicago Union Traction Company and 
the Chicago City Railway Company. These companies 
have leased the lines of various independent companies, 



160 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

and are in a dispute with the city relative to the expira- 
tion of their franchises. The city is now planning to 
construct and operate its own lines, if satisfactory terms 
cannot be made for extending the franchises or pur- 
chasing the lines. 

On the Loop of the elevated lines there are about 
sixteen hundred trains per day, of four and five cars 
each, and during the rush hours — about ninety minutes 
morning and evening — they carry about thirty-eight 
thousand six hundred passengers per hour. The total 
number of cars on the Loop in one day is about six 
thousand. 

Street-cars have the right of way, as against any per- 
son or vehicle. 

If a street-car is delayed ten minutes by a break- 
down, or by any act or neglect of the street-car company, 
any passenger may demand the refund of his fare. 

The River Tunnels. 

There are three tunnels under the Chicago River, 
each used for street-cars only. 

The Washington Street tunnel was built in 1867-69. 
Its length is one thousand six hundred and five feet ; 
cost, $517,000. 

The La Salle Street tunnel was built in 1869-71. Its 
length is one thousand eight hundred and ninety feet ; 
cost, $566,000. 

161 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Van Buren Street tunnel was built in 1891-92. 
Its length is one thousand five hundred and fourteen 
feet; cost, $1,000,000. 

By an order of the United States government, all 
the tunnels must be lowered or removed by April 15, 
1906, in order to facilitate the passage of vessels of 
heavier draft. Two million dollars of bonds have been 
laid aside for this purpose. By a recent decision of the 
Supreme Court the Van Buren Street tunnel must be 
lowered at the expense of the Chicago Union Traction 
Company and the West Chicago Street Railroad Com- 
pany. 

Colleges, Seminaries, and Universities in Chicago 

Armour Institute. 
Art Institute. 
Association Institute. 
Baptist Union Theological Seminary. 
Brooks's Classical School for Girls. 
Chicago Free Kindergarten Association and Train- 
ing School. 

Chicago Froebel Association. 
Chicago Kindergarten College. 
Chicago Kindergarten Institute. 
Chicago Musical College. 
. Chicago Theological Seminary. 
De La Salle Institute. 

162 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

Ephpheta School for the Blind. 
Garrett Biblical Institute (Evanston). 
Holy Family Academy. 
Lewis Institute. 

McCormick Theological Seminary. 
Moody Bible Institute. 
Northwestern University. 
Northwest Side Talmud Torah. 
St. Cyril's College. 
St. Ignatius College. 
St. Stanislaus College. 
St. Viator's Normal Institute. 
Teachers' College. 

Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church. 

University of Chicago. 
Western Theological Seminary. 
Young Men's Christian Association. 

The City Directory 

Once every year a large volume is published by a 
private publishing house, which contains the names 
and addresses of all persons living in Chicago. The 
names are obtained by a systematic canvass of the city 
immediately after May 1st, when most changes of resi- 
dence occur. The book is ready for delivery early in 
July. 

163 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Directory of 1905 contains 688,607 names, and 
by the computations usually made the population of 
the city is placed at 2,272,760. This is the sixty-sev- 
enth issue which has been published. It required 5*^5 
persons to take the names, and 150 to arrange them in 
alphabetical order. 

The Newsboys 

There are from 4,500 to 5,000 newsboys in Chicago. ] 
These newsboys are not the hoodlums of twenty-five 
years ago, but are mostly boys who have homes. Many 
of the boys are the sole support of their homes, and 
others support only themselves. 

There is a remarkable esprit du corps among news- 
boys. While quarrels among themselves are not in- 
frequent, they quickly unite in defending one of their 
number against any imposition or abuse from an out- 
sider. 

There is a kind of Protective Association among 
them, similar in some respects to a labor union. There 
is also a Benevolent Association. This is largely under 
the patronage of the Chicago Daily News, which con- 
tributes as much to the funds of the Association as 
the boys contribute themselves. In their delivery-room 
there is a lunch maintained, and the Daily News turns 
in the rental of this lunch-room to the funds of the 
Association. These funds are used to pay expenses 

164 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

incurred for medical or hospital service, and for 
funerals, etc. 

The Daily News Band and the Zouaves are main- 
tained by the Daily News. It is a kind of reward of 
merit for a boy to be admitted to the military company. 

By far the largest part of the papers sold by news- 
boys are evening papers. The boys acquire certain 
corners, w^hich they pre-empt for their exclusive use, 
and the trade of a certain corner often becomes so val- 
uable that it is regarded as a property, and is sold for 
a considerable sum of money, sometimes as much as a 
thousand dollars. On a good corner a boy's profits 
sometimes run as high as four or five dollars a day. 

As a rule, the boys are very bright and intelligent. 
Their life brings them into contact with all phases of 
business, and their wits are sharpened and their brains 
developed, so that many of them later become suc- 
cessful business men. Many of Chicago's most emi- 
nent men began their careers as newsboys. 

Formerly, the boys were mostly Irish, then German, 
and later many Jews took up the business, but at the 
present time the majority of the boys are Italians. 

Electricity in Chicago 

There are two companies which generate and supply 
electrical light and power to the city of Chicago, — the 
Chicago Edison Company and the Commonwealth Elec- 

165 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

trie Company, each eovering its own territory. The 
Chicago Edison Company supplies the business sec- 
tion of the city and the older residence district, having 
upwards of 17,000 customers, and 1,330,000 lights. The 
territory covers about fifteen square miles. The Com- 
monwealth Electric Company as yet supplies chiefly the 
more remote sections. It has 11,000 customers, using 
728,000 incandescent lamps. 

These two companies have mutual interests and co- 
operate in every way possible. 

Telephones 

The Chicago Telephone Company has 98,000 tele- 
phones in use in the city of Chicago. 

The telephone exchange covers an area of eighty-five 
square miles. 

There are more telephone-calls in one day in Chicago 
than in any other city in the world. One packer alone 
has an average of 16,000 daily telephone-calls, which 
is more than the total of an ordinary city of as many 
thousand inhabitants. 

There are over 54,000 telephones where the service 
is paid for when rendered, at a nickel a call. 

All the leading hotels have telephones in every room, 
and the leading restaurants have telephones available 
at every table. 

Ninety per cent of all the fire-alarms are sent in by 
telephone. 

166 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

There are about 4,000 police-calls per month by tele- 
phone. 

There are also about 10,000 automatic telephones 
within the '' Loop" formed by the elevated rail- 
roads. 

The Chicago Telephone Company has fourteen 
Chicago exchange-offices, and there are also about 
thirteen hundred private exchanges, one establishment 
requiring the service of thirteen trained operators to 
handle its business. 

Gas 

The gas which is used so extensively for illuminat- 
ing, heating, and cooking purposes is manufactured by 
three corporations and sold by measurement to citizens 
at one dollar per thousand cubic feet. The companies 
furnishing gas are the People's Gas Light and Coke 
Company, the Ogden Gas Company, and the Univer- 
sal Gas Company. 

Gas is produced by spraying steam over a fire of 
coke, and also spraying in oil to give it illuminating 
quality. After passing into purifiers, it is conveyed to 
the large gas-holders, which everybody has observed, 
and held there, to be distributed through the streets of 
the city in pipes laid in the streets. From these pipes 
service-pipes are laid into the houses where gas is to be 
used. 

The amount used by any house is determined by 

167 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

meters connected with the service-pipes, which register 
automatically the number of cubic feet consumed. 

The gas is forced through most of the pipes by the 
pressure of the holders, but this pressure is reinforced 
for long distances by an artificial process of blow- 
ing. 

The People's Gas Light and Coke Conipany, which 
supplies most of the gas on the South and West sides 
of the city, has 370,000 micters set. The Ogden Gas 
Company supplies gas only on the North Side, and the 
Universal Gas Company only on the South Side. 



The Chicago Relief and Aid Society 

The Chicago Relief and Aid Society is one of the 
oldest charity organizations in the country, having been 
founded in 1857. Its work is done among all classes, 
irrespective of race, religion, or nationality. It receives 
applications for relief from any source, investigates 
every case, and aids those needing temporary relief. 
All beggars and persons needing aid should be referred 
to this society, and relief will be given to those de- 
serving it. 

The expenses of the Society are met by endow- 
ments. 

Since the fire of 1871 this Society has aided 715,- 
000 persons, and has disbursed in charity upwards of 
$5,871,000. 

168 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

Chicago Bureau of Charities 

The Chicago Bureau of Charities is supported entire- 
ly by private contributions. It requires about $60,000 
a year for doing its regular work. In 1904 it had deal- 
ings with 8,481 families. It provides relief only where 
immediate suffering exists. It maintains loan funds; 
secures employment when possible; transports needy 
persons to friends, or places of employment ; conducts a 
system of summer outings for poor children and women ; 
maintains and directs vegetable-gardens, which are 
cultivated by industrious poor families ; introduces a 
system of small savings among families which have been 
restored to self-support; provides pensions for widows 
with small children, and for aged couples, under certain 
conditions ; co-operates with other charitable organiza- 
tions ; and keeps information on file in regard to needy 
persons and families. 

The Illinois Humane Society 

This Society was chartered March 25, 1869. Its pur- 
pose is to prevent cruelty to animals and children. Its 
office and headquarters are at 560 Wabash Avenue, in 
a house donated to the Society by some generous citizens 
of Chicago. The Society invites all persons to report 
cases of cruelty, either in writing or by telephone, with 
the fullest details possible. The Society has special 
agents and branches throughout the state. The laws 

169 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

of the state and the ordinances of the city forbid cruelty 
to animals, bull-fighting, cock-fighting, dog-fighting, 
docking horses ' tails, killing birds, using children under 
fourteen years of age for purposes of public exhibition 
or entertainment, and unnecessarily exposing children 
to the inclemency of the weather. 

For the year ending April 30, 1905, the Society re- 
ceived 2,523 complaints of cruelty to animals, and 853 
complaints of cruelty to children. 

Theaters 

There are about forty theaters in Chicago, of which 
number twelve, at least, may be said to be first-class in 
respect to structure and equipment. Nearly two hun- 
dred thousand people attend these theaters every week. 

By an ordinance of the city it is unlawful for any 
man or woman to wear a hat or bonnet in any licensed 
theater in the city, during any part of the perform- 
ance or program being rendered on the stage or platform. 
It is made the duty of the managers of the theaters to 
enforce this ordinance. The fine for wearing a hat is 
from three to five dollars. 

The Weather Bureau 

The Weather Bureau notes and records the tempera- 
ture, barometer, wind, and climatic conditions of all 
kinds, as observed in Chicago and reported by telegraph 

170 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

from all parts of the country. From these records and 
reports the Bureau is able to make a pretty accurate 
prediction as to what the weather will be during the 
next twenty-four hours. 

The Climate of Chicago. — The climate of Chicago, 
though much maligned, is favorable for the growth and 
permanence of a great city. Many of Chicago's first 
settlers are still here to testify to the healthful ness of 
Chicago's climate. 

The water of Lake Michigan is naturally pure and 
healthful, and the proximity of so large a body of water 
tends to prevent the greatest extremes in the tempera- 
ture of the atmosphere, in both winter and summer. 
The winters are varied, but generally not long, though 
sometimes very cold. In summer, occasionally hot, 
stifling winds blow^ from the south for a day or two. 

The mean temperature for the year 1904 was 46.6°. 
The highest for the year was 94° ; the lowest, 15° below 
zero ; the normal temperature is 48.3°. The highest on 
record is 103°, which occured July 21, 1901 ; the lowest 
is 23° below, which occured December 24, 1872. 

The normal temperature for the three months of De- 
cember, January, and February, taken together, is 26° ; 
for June, July, and August, 69.9°. 

The average precipitation, or rainfall, for 1904 was 
26.14 inches, the normal being 34.76. 

The Signal Service. — The signal flags used to indi- 
cate the probable weather just ahead are as follows : 

171 




CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 



No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 

la ^ ^ 

Fair Weather Rain or Snow Local Rain Temperature Cold Wave 

or Snow 

Interpretation of Signals 
No. 1, alone, indicates fair weather, stationary temperature. 
No. 2, alone, indicates rain or snow, stationary temperature. 
No. 3, alone, indicates local rain or snow, stationary temperature. 
No. 1, with No. 4 above it, indicates fair weather, warmer. 
No, 1 , with No. 4 below it, indicates fair weather, colder. 
No. 2, w^ith No. 4 above it, indicates rain or snow, warmer. 
No. 2, with No. 4 below it, indicates rain or snow, colder. 
No. 3, with No. 4 above it, indicates local rain or snow, warmer. 
No. 3, with No. 4 below it, indicates local rain or snow, colder. 

Storm Signal. — A red flag with a black center indi- 
cates that a storm of marked violence is expected. The 
pennants displayed with the flags indicate the direction 
of the wind ; red, easterly (from northeast to south) ; 
white, westerly (from southwest to north). If the pen- 
nant is above the flag, it indicates that the wind is ex- 
pected to blow from the northerly quadrants, if below, 
from the southerly quadrants. 

By night, a red light indicates easterly winds, and a 
white light above a red light, westerly winds. 

Injormatioii Signal. — A red or white pennant dis- 
played alone, at stations on the Great Lakes, indicates 
that winds are expected which may prove dangerous to 

173 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 



tows and smaller classes of vessels; the red pennant 
indicating easterly and the white pennant westerly 
winds. 

Hurricane Signal. — Two red flags with black centers, 
displayed one above the other, indicate the expected 
approach of tropical hurricanes, and also of those 
extremely severe and dangerous storms which occa- 
sionally move across the lakes and northern Atlantic 
coast. 

No night information or hurricane signals are dis- 
played. 

Forecasts. — In Chicago, daily forecasts of the weather 
are made at eight o'clock in the morning. These fore- 
casts are based upon simultaneous observations taken 
daily at numerous regular observing-stations in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley and the Northwest, and immediately 
telegraphed to Chicago. Within two hours after the 
morning observations have been taken, the forecasts 
are telegraphed from Chicago to distributing-points, 
whence they are further disseminated by telegraph, 
telephone, and mail. 

A w^eather map, on which the salient features of cur- 
rent weather conditions throughout the countrv are 
graphically represented, is mailed immediately after the 
morning forecast is telegraphed. 

The warnings given by the Weather Bureau of sud- 
den changes in temperature, the approach of a cold 
wave, etc., have proved of great value to individuals, 

173 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

railroad companies, shippers, etc. The warnings is- 
sued in January, 1896, foretelUng a cold wave of 
exceptional severity, resulted in the saving of over 
$3,500,000 in the protection of property from injury 
or destruction. It is estimated that more than 
$15,000,000 worth of property was saved from destruc- 
tion by the flood of 1903, through the warnings given 
by the Weather Bureau. 

Life-saving Stations 

There are sixty life-saving stations on the coasts of 
the Great Lakes. Thirty-one of these are on the shores 
of Lake Michigan. One is at South Chicago, one at 
Jackson Park, one at the mouth of the Chicago River, 
and one at Evanston. 

The total number of disasters on Lake Michigan dur- 
ing the year ending June 30, 1904, was 120 ; value of 
property involved, $652,090; property saved, $514,455; 
property lost, $137,635 ; persons on board, 405 ; persons 
lost, 6 ; shipwrecked persons succored at stations, 57 ; 
days' succor afforded, 234. 

One keeper is on duty at these stations during the en- 
tire year, and seven or eight surfman at each from April 
1st to November 30th, or during the season of naviga- 
tion. 

Life-saving stations are maintained by the United 
States government, purely for the protection of life and 
property on the coasts of the Great Lakes and oceans. 

174 



I 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 



The stations are equipped with all needed appliances, 
including apparatus, books, charts, draft horses in many 
cases, telephones, furniture, boats, wreck-guns, restora- 
tives, etc. 

The crews are paid salaries by the government, and 




U. S. LIFE SAVING STATION 



are strictly forbidden to solicit or receive rewards for 
services rendered any person or vessel. 

Shipwrecked sailors are provided with food and lodg- 
ings as long as they are necessarily detained. 

175 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

How the Service is Performed. — The station crews 
patrol the beach from two to four miles each side of 
their stations four times between sunset and sunrise, 
and if the weather is foggy, the patrol is continued 
through the day. 

Each patrolman carries Coston signals, and if he 
discovers a vessel in danger, he ignites one of them, 
which emits a brilliant red flame of about two min- 
utes' duration, and this is a warning to the vessel, or 
notice that assistance is at hand. 

If a vessel is in distress, it sends up rockets or burns 
flare-lights, or, if the weather is foggy, fires guns, to at- 
tract attention, provided it has received no signal from 
the station. 

Usually, a large lifeboat is launched and sent imme- 
diately to the vessel, or a lighter surfboat may be hauled 
overland to a point opposite the wreck, and launched 
there. 

If it is inexpedient to use a boat, the wreck-gun and 
beach apparatus are used. A shot with a small line at- 
tached is fired across the vessel, and this line is seized 
as soon as possible by those on board and hauled in 
until a tail-block is in hand, with a whip or endless line 
through it. This tail-block has a tally-board attached 
to it, with the following directions, in English on one 
side and French on the other : 

"Make the tail of the block fast to the lower mast, 
well up. If the masts are gone, then to the best place 

176 I 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

you can find. Cast off shot-line, see that the rope 
in the block runs free, and show signal to the 
shore." 

As soon as their signal is seen, a three-inch hawser 
is fastened to the whip-line and hauled to the ship by 
the life-saving crew. A tally-board is attached to the 
hawser, bearing the following directions, in English on 
one side and French on the other : 

*'Make this hawser fast about two feet above the tail- 
block ; see all clear, and that the rope in the block runs 
! free, and show signal to the shore." 

The life-saving crew then hauls the hawser taut, 
and by means of the whip-line sends to the ship what 
is called a breeches-buoy, suspended from a traveler- 
block, or a life-car from rings, running on the hawser. 
Only one person, or at most two, can be hauled ashore 
by means of the breeches-buoy, but from four to six by 
the life-car. The operation is repeated till all are 
landed. 

The rules require that women and children shall be 
landed first, and if the lifeboat is sent, no goods or bag- 
gage is permitted in the boat till all persons are 
landed. 

Signals are given from the ship in the daytime by one 
man separating himself from the rest and swinging his 
hat or handkerchief, or his hand alone ; if at night, by 
showing a light and concealing it once or twice. Like 
signals are made from the shore. 

177 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Union Stock-yards. 

The Union Stock-yards represent the greatest live- 
stock market in the world. They are located about 
five and a half miles from the City Hall, in a southwest-^| 
erly direction. The grounds cover nearly five hundred 
acres. These grounds include twenty miles of streets, 
twenty miles of water-troughs, fifty miles of feeding- 1 1 
troughs, and several artesian wells with an average 
depth of 1,230 feet. 

The original cost of the plant was four million dol- 
lars. The packing-houses cost ten million dollars. 

The number of people employed by the Union Stock- 
yards, the packers, and other concerns directly con- 
nected with them, reaches nearly three hundred thou- 
sand, or almost one seventh of the total population of 
Chicago. 

The annual volume of business is six hundred million 
dollars, which includes the live-stock, packing, com- 
mission, and stock-yard railway interest. 

In 1904 there were 3,259,185 cattle received at the 
yards, 7,786,541 hogs, 4,504,630 sheep, 105,949 horses, 
over two-thirds of which were slaughtered there. 

The packing-house district, commonly styled " Pack- 
ingtown, ' ' covers nearly as much territory as the Union 
Stock-yards. Here a separate and independent busi- 
ness is carried on, yet dependent for its supplies on the 
live-stock at the yards. The cattle, hogs, sheep, etc., 
are slaughtered and prepared for market by the packers, 

178 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

and by them shipped to every part of the world. The 
yards supply the raw material gathered from every state 
in the Union, and the packers prepare and distribute 
this material to consumers everywhere. 

The rapidity with which animals are slaughtered and 




UNION STOCK YARDS 



" packed ' ' is one of the most marvelous sights in the 
world. 

The Union Stock-yards and Transit Company is 
a corporation chartered by the state. This company 



179 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 



simply furnishes the facilities for carrying on the live- 
stock business, but does not buy or sell any live-stock. 
This is done by owners or commission-men, who dis- 
pose of their stock to the packers, shippers, and other 
stock-men. 

There are, then, three distinct parties interested in 
this business, — the owners and commission-men, who 
buy and sell the stock ; the Union Stock-yards and 
Transit Company, which furnishes the grounds, pens, 
weighing facilities, etc., to the stock-men for certain 
stipulated fees, which constitute the only revenue of the 
company ; and the packers and shippers, who buy the 
live-stock and dispose of it to their own custom- 
ers. 

There is an average of about one thousand car-loads 
of live-stock received at the yards every day of the year, 
each car-load averaging in value upwards of one thou- 
sand dollars, making a total of one million dollars' 
worth every business day. In *' Packingtown" these 
figures are duplicated in the amount of trade and the 
expenses of business done there. 

In these two mammoth establishments more than 
one hundred car-loads of coal are consumed daily. 

The commission-men are organized into a Chicago 
Live-stock Exchange, which establishes and enforces 
certain rules for trading. This exchange has now about 
seven hundred members. 

The International Live-stock Exposition, — The first 

180 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

International Live-stock Exposition was held in De- 
cember, 1900. The purpose was to gather together the 
best specimens of cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses, as an 
inspiration to higher breeding and general improvement 




UNION STOCK YARDS 



in stock. The exhibition was a great success. As 
many as three hundred fifty thousand visitors attended 
it. The exposition was provided with a location and 
the necessary funds by the Union Stock-yards and 
Transit Company. 

The second exposition was a still greater success, and 
each year marks an enlargement of the scope of this 



181 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Exposition and a more widespread interest among the 
people. 

The total valuation of the domestic animals in the 
United States in 1904 is estimated at $3,298,247,479, or 
more than the total of all the grain, cotton, coal, petrol- 
eum, minerals, precious stones, metals, potatoes, sugar, 
molasses, wool, and tobacco. Chicago is the largest 
grain market in the world, the largest lumber market, 
and the largest wholesale dry-goods market, yet her 
aggregate business as a live-stock market exceeds the 
aggregate of all these combined. 

Ship-building 

About one mile from the mouth of the Calumet River, 
and twelve miles from the City Hall, is located a ship- 
building yard which covers twenty acres. Here ships 
for lake service are constructed. In 1904 two steel 
vessels were constructed, at a cost of $179,000, with 
a tonnage of 1,526; also, six wooden vessels, costing 
$19,500, tonnage 69. 

High Buildings in Chicago 

One of the notable features of Chicago is the large 
number of high buildings in the business section of the 
city. Among the most conspicuous are Montgomery 
Ward and Company's building, whose tower extends 
to the great height of 394 feet ; the Masonic Temple, 305 
feet high ; and the Auditorium, whose tower is 270 feet 

183 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 




MASONIC TEMPLE 



high. With the exception of the Washington INIonu- 
ment, the Cologne Cathedral, and the statue of 
William Penn on the City Hall in Philadelphia, Mont- 



183 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

gomery Ward and Company's tower is the highest 
structure in the world. 

On the top of the tower is an immense statue of Pro- 
gress, seventeen feet high, which is illuminated at night 
by seven hundred and fifty incandescent electric lights, 
which can be seen for many miles inland and on the 
lake. The statue is covered with pure gold leaf, and 
weighs nearly two tons. This statue rests on ball bear- 
ings and swings with the wind, so that it serves as a 
weather-vane for all Chicago. 

During the season of navigation the dome of the Ma- 
sonic Temple is brilliantly lighted every night, includ- 
ing Sundays and holidays, between seven and twelve 
o'clock, regardless of the weather. Two hundred white 
incandescent electric lights are placed in a horizontal 
line around the dome, with an additional row of six- 
teen lights six feet above the position of the time- 
ball. 

The Time-balL — Every day, except Sunday, at ex- 
actly twelve o'clock, a ball is dropped, by electricity, 
from a flagstaff on top of the Masonic Temple, under 
the control of the Hydrographic Ofiice in the Federal 
Building. The ball is hoisted five minutes before noon. 

Several of the largest office buildings in Chicago are 
populated during the business hours by ten thousand 
people, and fully as many more enter them to transact 
business. 

In 1904 Chicago spent $45,667,560 for new buildings, 

184 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 



and in July, 1905, there were twenty-one new steel busi- 
ness structures either begun or under contract. 

The Tunnel, or Subway, under the 
Streets of Chicago 

The construction of the great tunnel under the 
streets of Chicago was begun in September, 1901, and 
proceeded at a rate of more than a mile a month. 




FIRST NATIONAL HANK BUILDING 

185 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

When completed, this tunnel will be about sixty miles 
in length. Nearly forty miles have been completed, 
December 1, 1905. It is the purpose of the company 
constructing the tunnel to make connections with the 
Federal Building and all other large buildings in the 
business section, so that mail and freight may be easily 
and quickly transported direct to all the railroad depots. 

By the ordinance granting the privilege of this con- 
struction, the tunnel itself, but not its equipment, will 
revert to the city at the expiration of the lease in 1927. 
It is claimed that thirty thousand tons of freight are now 
hauled daily by the Tunnel Company. 

The tunnel extends forty-two feet below the surface 
of the ground, and is longer than any other subway in the 
world. The main lines of the system are twelve and a 
half feet wide and fourteen feet high, but the greater 
portion are six by seven and a half feet. On the bot- 
tom of the trunk portion of the system there is a con- 
crete floor twenty-one inches thick, while the walls are 
protected by a similar concrete eighteen inches thick ; 
the lateral conduits are protected by concrete walls 
thirteen inches and ten inches thick. 

The importance of this great tunnel system to the city 
of Chicago can hardly be estimated. In the single item 
of transportation of freight to and from the railroad de- 
pots millions of dollars w^ill be saved and thousands of 
loaded trucks and freight-wagons will be taken off the 
streets. The cost of teaming to and from the depots ex- 

186 



INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES 

ceeds fifty million dollars a year. It employs about 
thirty thousand teams almost continually on the streets 
in the most congested district. It is estimated that 
fifty-seven million dollars is invested in these trucks and 
teams, and one hundred thousand tons of freight are 
handled daily. All this indicates the enormous expense 
at which freight is hauled by the merchants and railroads 
in Chicago. The tunnel will soon relieve the streets, the 
people, and the shippers from this crushing burden, by 
carrying the freight under the ground, and leaving the 
surface for the people to pass to and fro with a minimum 
of danger and discomfort. In making excavations for 
new buildings the dirt will be carried off through 
the tunnel and dumped on the lake shore, instead of 
being carted through the streets. The delivery of some 
ten million tons of coal each year will be done through 
the tunnel instead of being carted through the streets, 
and the ashes will be removed in the same way. 

It is plain that such use of the tunnel will relieve the 
business district from much noise, dirt, and congestion. 



187 



CHICAGO'S COMMERCIAL 
INTERESTS 

The Board of Trade 

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is on Jackson' 
Boulevard, facing north, at the southern end of La Salle 
Street, within the ''Loop." 

The Chicago Board of Trade is the largest institution 
of the kind in the world. It was first formed in 1848. 
The present building was begun in 1882 and completed 
in 1885, at a cost of $1,800,000. 

The present membership of the Board includes 1,785 
names. The nominal price of a membership is $10,000, 
but retiring members sell their certificates for varying 
amounts. The value of a membership at the present 
time is about $3,000. 

The Board is in session from 9 : 30 A. M. till 1 : 15 p. M. 
Here the members buy and sell the staple articles of food, 
especially grains. The clearances of the Board in 1904 
amounted to $99,101,957.50. 

The Lumber Business 

The lumber business of Chicago is greater than that 
of any other city in the world. The great lumber- 
yards are located mostly in the southwestern part of 
the city. 

188 



COMMERCIAL INTERESTS 




BOARD OF TRADE BUILDING 



189 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 



In Chicago are some of the most extensive sash, door, 
and blind factories, and planing-mills in the world. 

Ten miles of water frontage are devoted to the lum- 
ber interests. The amount of business done each year 
runs up into the billions. 

Shipping Interests 

Chicago handles $250,000,000 worth of grain in a 
year, packs $350,000,000 worth of meat, and turns out 
$112,000,000 worth of iron and steel. j 

The following tables show the receipts and shipments 
of the leading articles of commerce in the city of Chicago 
for 1904. . 

GRAIN I 

Receipts Shipments 

Flour, barrels 8,839,220 7,267,896 

Wheat, bushels 24,457,347 17,957,416 

Corn, " 100,543,207 75,184,758 

Oats, " 73,023,119 47,303,901 

Rye, " 2,379,367 1,567,273 

Barley, " 25,316,917 5,802,856 

Total 225,719,957 147,816,204 

PRODUCE 

Receipts Shipments 

Hay, tons 252,370 11,660 

Hides, pounds 165,739,850 197,469,251 

Wool, '' 72,693,060 73,316,559 

190 



COMMERCIAL INTERESTS 

Cheese, " 90,937,788 66,148,937 

Butter, " 249,024,146 249,359,694 

Flaxseed, bushels 3,337,315 676,281 

MEATS 

Receipts Shipments 

Live hogs 7,786,541 1,626,022 

Dressed hogs 20,024 120,845 

Cattle 3,259,185 1,326,332 

Sheep 4,504,630 1,362,270 

Dressed beef, pounds .... 208,204,901 1,072,156,300 

Lard, pounds 54,549,592 336,789,963 

Barreled pork, barrels 10,452 113,850 

Other meats, pounds 200,221,000 652,564,606 

The grain is '* handled ' ' without the use of hands. It 
comes by rail, canal, or lake boat, ''in bulk, "not in 
bags or barrels, but loose in the car or boat. The train 
or boat stops by the side of an "elevator," and the 
grain is pumped into enormous bins ; from these bins it is 
poured out into other cars or vessels on the other side 
of the elevator by steam-power, and all this is done 
w^ithin a few minutes. 

The grain is inspected and graded by an inspector and 
dumped w ith a mountain of other grain of the same grade. 
A receipt is given by the clerk of the elevator, and this 
receipt is as good as a bank check. It goes from one 
hand to another among grain dealers on 'change and in 
the grain market, the same as so much money. 

Chicago's factory products aggregate $1,100,000,000 

191 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 



in value every year, and its commerce, aside from manu- 
facture, is $1,150,000,000 a year. 

Chicago has the greatest car-building shops, agri- 




GRAIN ELEVATOR 



cultural-implement works, vehicle-works, stove-works, 
and boiler-shops in this country. 

The Chicago Clearing-house 

The Chicago Clearing-house Association was organ- 
ized in 1865. Its objects are : ** The effecting at one 

192 



COMMERCIAL INTERESTS 



place of the daily exchanges between the several asso- 
ciated banks, and the payment at the same place of the 
balances resulting from such exchanges, and to estab- 
lish rules and regulations in matters of common interest 




ILLINOIS TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK 



arising from or affecting relations with banks in other 
localities, and the fostering of sound and conservative 
methods of banking. ' ' 

The payment of exchanges is effected systematically, 
within about twenty minutes, daily at 11 a. m., Satur- 
days at 10 A. M. 



193 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

There are seventeen members of the association, and 
thirty-five non-members, or banks which make their 
clearings through members. 

The business of the Clearing-house is confined entire- 
ly to banks and large corporations which handle a great 
many checks. The United States Sub-Treasury is also 
a member of the Association. Depositors' checks or 
bank balances are not in any way connected with the 
business done at the Clearing-house. Each bank closes 
its accounts with other banks at 10:30 a.m., and all 
checks received later than that are carried forward into 
the next day's transactions. 

The total clearings by the associated banks of Chicago 
for 1904 were $8,989,983,764, the balances $739,806,074. 

The clearings by the Clearing-house of the Board of 
Trade were $99,101,957; the balances, $31,999,278. 

The Federal Building 

The present Federal Building was erected at a cost of 
more than $5,000,000. Its predecessor on the same 
block was erected in 1873 at a cost of about $4,000,000, 
and was removed for the new building in 1896. The 
new building is the finest of its kind in the United States 
It occupies a whole block in the heart of the business 
section of the city, bounded by Adams, Dearborn, Jack- 
son, and Clark streets, with a spacious entrance on each 
street. It was first occupied in 1905. The predomi- 
nant style of its architecture is Corinthian. 

194 



COMMERCIAL INTERESTS 



In its general scheme it is a two-story structure, with 
a cross portion rising six stories higher, having an oc- 
tagonal dome at the sectional point of the cross. In the 



JT"" 




FEDERAL BUILDING 



center of each wing is a broad corridor with rooms on 
each side. 

The basement, outside of such parts as are used by 
the mechanical plants, is used by the Post-office, also 
the first, second, and third floors, except those rooms 
occupied by the Sub-Treasury on the first floor, 

195 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

It differs from all other buildings of its kind in the 
country, being an entirely new departure from the con- 
ventional massive architecture which disitnguishes most 
buildings constructed by the government. Four giant 
skylights, besides many large windows, afford light in 
abundance, without the sacrifice of beauty or utility. 
The elevators and stairways are in the center of the 
building. 

The Post-office 

In many important respects the business done by the 
Chicago Post-office surpasses that of New York. There 
are 2,300 clerks in the General Post-office and stations, 
and 1,596 carriers and collectors. The total number 
of employees is about six thousand. The carriers 
cover one hundred and ninety square miles of ter- 
ritory, or more than the carriers of any other city 
in this country. New York and Brooklyn together 
have two thousand six hundred and four carriers, 
but cover only one hundred and thirty-two square 
miles. 

The total receipts for the year ending June 30, 1905, 
were $11,648,410.36. 

There were 2,063,988,280 letters received for delivery 
during the year, and 1,536,635,378 newspapers, circulars, 
etc., were received and forwarded. In all, 3,601,- 
844,300 pieces of all classes were received, weighing 
422,412,841 pounds. 

196 



COMMERCIAL INTERESTS 

The mail sent to the Dead-letter Office in Washing- 
ton, numbered 1,187,808 pieces. 

The expenses of the government in transacting the 
business of the Chicago Post-office for the year were 
$3,921,263.40, which leaves a net profit of $7,727,146.96. 
The money-orders issued during the year amounted to 
$144,274,681.15, which involved 9,531,809 separate 
transactions. 

Post-office cars are run on several of the main lines 
of street-railway, making a trip each hour from 8 a. m. 
to 6 p. M. These cars connect with all other lines. 
Letters may be deposited on them at any stopping- 
place. Letters may also be posted on the United 
States postal-cars of steam-railways up to the moment 
of leaving. Two-cent stamps may be bought on any of 
these cars. 



197 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 

OF CHICAGO 

Chicago has been personified as an Amazonian 
warrior wearing the dress of the Goddess of Liberty, 
with the words ''I WILL" across her breast, in large 
letters. 

Within the limits of the river on the north and west. 
Twelfth Street on the south, and the lake on the east, 
there is more business transacted than in any other spot 
in the world, of equal size. There are more teams in 
the streets, more street-railway cars filled with passen- 
gers, and more pedestrians, within these limits than can 
be found within the same space in any other city on 
the face of the globe. 

Chicago has long been called the *' Garden City," 
probably on account of the many beautiful garden-like 
residences in the southern outskirts in its early days, 
possibly because of the many real gardens on the north- 
ern boundary, which furnish a livelihood for many for- 
eigners the year round. 

The Catholic Directory for 1904 gives the following 
statistics of the Roman Catholic Church in the arch- 
diocese of Chicago : 

Catholic population, about 1,000,000 

Children in Catholic institutions 93,388 

19S 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 

Catholic Churches 316 

Seminaries 3 

Colleges for boys 8 

Academies for girls 23 

Parishes with schools 168 

Orphan asylums 7 

Charitable institutions 39 

Children attending parish schools 67,388 

Catholic clergy 619 

The Wonderful Growth of Chicago 
The increase of population in Chicago averages 
150,000 a year, more than the entire population of 
Omaha or Denver. In one year and a quarter the 
increase equals the total of St. Paul, Indianapolis, or 
Kansas City. 

It has been shown that no other city in the world is 
increasing one tenth as fast as Chicago in its manufac- 
tures, which now exceed those of New York, Boston, 
and Philadelphia combined. 

In the iron and steel industry, Chicago does more 
than twice the business of all other cities west of Penn- 
sylvania. The first steel rails ever made in this country 
were rolled in Chicago in 1865, and to-day Chicago is 
the greatest producer of steel rails in the world. 

The Languages of Chicago 
Forty-three languages and dialects are spoken in 
Chicago. 

199 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

With the exception of BerHn and New York City, 
there are more Germans in Chicago than in any other 
city in the world. There are more Bohemians in Chi- 




PARADE ON DEARBORN STREET, EAST OF FEDERAL BUILDING 

cago than in Prague, and as many Scandinavians as in 
Stockholm. 

One Day's Events in Chicago 

The following interesting statement of what is going 
on daily in Chicago is reproduced from the Chicago 

200 



il 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 

Tribune of April 9, 1905, and is said to be as accurate 
as possible : 

A death every fifteen minutes. 

A birth every eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds. 

A murder every seventy hours. 

A suicide every eighteen hours 

A serious accident, necessitating nurse's or physician's 
care, every four minutes. 

A fatal accident every five hours. 

A case of assault and battery every twenty-six minutes. 

A burglary every three hours. 

A holdup every six hours. 

A disturbance of the peace, to attract attention, every 
six seconds. 

A larceny every twenty minutes. 

An arrest every seven minutes and thirty seconds. 

A fire every hour. 

An arrest for drunkenness every fifteen minutes. 

A marriage every twenty minutes. 

A case for the coroner every three hours. 

A new building completed every one hour and fifteen 
minutes. 

A railroad passenger train arrives every fifty-six sec- 
onds. 

Sixty passengers, suburban and through, arrive every 
second at railroad stations. 

Seventeen thousand gallons of water a minute pass 
through the nineteen hundred miles of city water-mains. 

SOI 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

One thousand three hundred and forty-three letters 
are delivered by the post-office every minute, day and 
night. 

Chicago's Greatness 

In a recent letter to the Chicago Record-Herald, Mr. 
William E. Curtis, cites the following, among other 
visible evidences of the greatness of Chicago : 

1. Her harbors float a greater tonnage than any other 
port in the world. Neither London, nor Liverpool, nor 
Hamburg, nor New York equals it. In 1903, 15,371 ves- 
sels entered and cleared, with an aggregate tonnage of 
15,307,635. 

2. Her commerce by water surpasses that of New 
York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore combined. 
In 1903 the receipts of grain were 276,000,000 bushels, 
and of corn nearly 100,000,000 bushels. 

3. She is the greatest of railway centers, whether 
measured by freight or passenger traffic, by earnings, or 
by the mileage of the roads which focus there. She is the 
terminus of thirty-two railway lines, operating 65,000 
miles of main track, or about 30 per cent of the total 
mileage of the entire country. Every day 1,839 trains 
enter and leave Chicago, including 333 express trains. 
In 1903 the gross earnings of the members of the Chicago 
Railroad Association amounted to $661,000,000, an in- 
crease of about 87 per cent during the last ten years. 
Within the corporate limits are 1,924 miles of track, 

303 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 



and 6,937 side-tracks. The roads belonging to the asso- 
ciation employ more than 50,000 men. 

4. Chicago is the greatest cattle market in the world. 
During 1903, 16,232,055 live animals, valued at $295,- 




AUDITORIUM HOTEL 



217,814, were received, being the equivalent of 310,117 
car-loads. 

5. Chicago has the largest packing-houses in the 
world, and handles three fourths of the meat products 
of the United States. 

6. Chicago is the largest grain market, with twenty 
public elevators and sixty-two private elevators, having 

303 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

a combined capacity of more than 60,000,000 bush- 
els. 

7. Chicago does the biggest mail trading business. 

8. The largest trade in ready-made clothing. 

9. The largest trade in men's furnishing goods. 

10. She is the largest hardware market in the world. 

11. She has the biggest hardware-store, with fifteen 
acres of floor-space. 

12. She has the richest merchant in the world, and he 
has made his money on the spot. 

13. Chicago is the biggest furniture market, and sells 
one third more furniture and household goods than any 
other city. 

14. She has the largest and finest retail department 
store in the world. 

15. She has the finest wholesale dry-goods establish- 
ment in the world. 

16. The show-windows in her retail section are un- 
surpassed for size or taste or gorgeousness of display. 

17. Chicago has the greatest telephone system in ex- 
istence, — one company, with investments of $14,000,000 
and 113,000 subscribers. 

18. She is the largest producer of telephones and other 
electric supplies, the total output in 1903 being $16,500,- 
000 in manufactures and more than $7,000,000 in the 
jobbing trade. 

19. Chicago is the biggest market for agricultural 
machinery. 

304 



11 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 



20. She has also the worst street-car system in the 
world. 

21. She has the worst pavements and the shabbiest 
streets of any city outside of China, except Constan- 
tinople. 

22. She has nearly 3,000 miles of unpaved streets. 

23. She has the darkest and dingiest city hall in ex- 
istence. 

24. She has the slowest-growing Federal building, 
which will be outgrown before it is finished. 

25. She has more Germans than any city except 
Berlin and Hamburg; more Bohemians than any city 
except Prague ; more Irish than any city except Dublin ; 
more Scandinavians than any city except Stockholm, 
and more Jews than can be found in Palestine. 

In finance Chicago stands fourth among the great 
cities of the world, being led by London, New York, 
and Paris only, which is especially remarkable when 
the relative ages of those cities are considered. In 1903 
the deposits in national and state banks were $600, 
000,000, and in the savings banks $120,000,000. Chicago 
is the third city in manufactures, being surpassed by 
London and New York only. The percentage of increase 
is far greater than either of those cities, the capital hav- 
ing advanced from $170,000,000 to $620,000,000 in 
twenty years. She has a pay-roll amounting to $165,- 
000,000 a year, and it bears more than 300,000 
names. 

205 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Non-partisan Political Associations 

The Municipal Voters ' League is not a political body, 
excej)t that it seeks the purification of municipal politics 
in determining the character of candidates for the posi- 
tion of alderman, and in deciding which candidates are 
most worthy of their votes. It is non-partisan. The 
League was first formed in 1896, and has been a very 
effective agency in the election of honest men to the 
City Council. Its published criticisms of candidates 
before election are accepted by the citizens generally 
as being impartial and correct. The League is sup- 
ported solely by voluntary contributions, varying from 
one dollar to one thousand dollars. Every citizen 
should be willing to aid so valuable an agency for secur- 
ing and maintaining an honest and efficient Council. 
The office of the League is at 107 Dearborn Street. 

The Citizens' Association of Chicago also seeks to 
promote the general political welfare of the city. Its 
office is at 92 La Salle Street. 

The City Club is at 180 Madison Street. 

The Civic Federation, 184 La Salle Street. 

The Civil Service Reform Association of Chicago, 184 
La balle Street. 

Legislative Voters' League of Cook County, 92 La 
Salle Street. 

Municipal Ownership League. 

The Citizens ' Law and Order Association was organ- 
ized and incorporated in July, 1905. Its purpose is to 

206 



m 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 

aid the people in securing the enforcement of the laws 
and the suppression of disorderly places. 

Referendum League, 1440 Monadnock Building. 

The Hamilton Club, Iroquois Club, Marquette Club, 
Mohican Club, and others, though chiefly social in 
their aims, are more or less active in promoting the in- 
terests of one or other of the leading {)olitical parties. 

Every citizen ought to be willing to serve the city in 
any capacity where his services are needed. When a 
business man is summoned to serve on a jury he should 
not be excused, except for reasons specified by the law. 

All public officers and employees of the city should do 
their best to render valuable and faithful service. 

Every citizen should willingly obey and respect the 
laws and ordinances of the city. 

Every citizen is a part of the city, and when he serves 
the city well he does a favor to himself. 

Charitable Organizations. 

There are in Chicago more than sixty associations 
organized for the purpose of dispensing general charities, 
twelve or more special charity organizations, and sixty 
or more church charity organizations. 

Social Settlements 

The University of Chicago Settlement, 4630 Gross 
Avenue. 

The Forward Movement, 305 West Van Buren Street. 

207 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Northwestern University Settlement, Augusta Street, 
northwest corner of Noble. 

Hull House, 335 South Halsted Street. 

Chicago Commons, Grand Avenue, corner of North 
Morgan Street. 

Besides these there are fourteen others, less exten- 
sive in their scope. 

The chief aim of these settlements is to provide cen- 
ters for higher civic and social life, to initiate and main- 
tain religious, educational, and philanthropic enterprises, 
and to investigate and improve conditions in the indus- 
trial districts of Chicago. 

Cemeteries 

There are nearly fifty cemeteries required for bury- 
ing the dead of Chicago, some of the most important of 
which are the following: 

Mount Greenwood Cemetery, on One Hundred and 
Eleventh Street, or Morgan Avenue, between California 
and Western avenues, sixteen and a half miles from 
the City Hall. It comprises eighty acres, on a heavily 
timbered ridge, in some places seventy feet above the 
lake. 

Graceland Cemetery comprises one hundred and 
twenty-eight acres, on North Clark Street, six miles 
from the City Hall, extending a mile north and south 
along an elevated ridge. The Graceland Cemetery 
Company was chartered in 1861 . All lots in the cemetery 

308 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 



are exempt from taxation, also from execution and attach- 
ment. No street or through-fare is permitted to pass 
through the cemetery. A sinking fund is created by re- 
serving ten per cent of the gross proceeds of sale of burial 
lots. With this fund the expenses are paid for the per- 
petual maintenance of the cemetery. The fund is held 
and managed by trustees elected by the lot-owners. 

Calvary Cemetery is located ten miles north of the 
City Hall, just south of Evanston. It contains one 
hundred acres. It was first opened in 1861. The num- 
ber of interments is now about two hundred thousand. 

Waldheivi Cemetery is located eleven miles west of 
the City Hall, on Harrison Street. 

Oakwoods Cemetery is located on Sixty-seventh Street 
and Greenwood Boulevard, nine miles south. It contains 
one hundred and eighty- two acres. 

Rose Hill is eight miles north; contains five hundred 
acres. It lies from thirty to forty feet above Lake Mich- 
igan, and is mostly covered with native oaks. 

*S^. Boniface is on North Clark Street, at the corner of 
Lawrence Avenue, about six miles from the City Hall. 
It contains thirty acres. 

St. Maria contains one hundred and two acres. It 
is thirteen miles south, near Eighty-seventh Street. 

The German Lutheran Cemetery is six miles north, at 
the corner of Clark and Graceland avenues. It con- 
tains fourteen and a half acres. 

Mount Hope is nine miles south, near Morgan Park. 

209 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Mount Olive is twelve miles north, on Sixty-fourth Ave- 
nue, near West Irving Park Boulevard. It contains 
forty one acres. 

Mount Olivet contains eighty acres; located sixteen 
and a half miles southwest. 

Forest Home is five miles west, on Madison Street; it 
contains eighty-six acres. 

Concordia is contiguous to Forest Home, containing 
eighty acres. 

Location of Railroad Depots 

Central Station. — Park Row and Twelfth Street. 
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis (Big 
Four); Illinois Central; Michigan Central; Wisconsin 
Central ; Grand Rapids and Indiana. 

Northwestern Station. — Wells and Kinzie streets. 
Chicago and Northwestern. 

Dearborn Station. — Polk Street, between Custom 
House Place and Plymouth Place. Atchison, Topeka, 
and Santa Fe ; Chicago and Western Indiana ; Chicago, 
Indianapolis, and Louisville (Monon) ; Chicago and 
Erie; Grand Trunk; Wabash. 

Grand Central Station. — Fifth Avenue and Harrison 
Street. Baltimore and Ohio; Chicago Great Western; 
Chicago Terminal Transfer; Pere Marquette. 

La Salle Street Station. — Van Buren Street, between 
La Salle and Sherman streets. Chicago and Eastern 
Illinois ; Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific ; Lacka- 

310 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 

wanna; Lake Shore and Michigan Southern; New 
York, Chicago, and St. Louis (Nickel Plate). 

Union Station. — Canal Street, between Adams and 
Madison streets. Chicago and Alton ; Chicago, Burling- 
ton and Quincy; Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul; 
Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago; Pittsburg, Cin- 
cinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis (Panhandle). 

Nearly 1,500 passenger trains arrive at and depart 
from these six stations each twenty-four hours, as follows : 

Central Station 504 

Chicago and Northwestern 346 

Union Station 264 

La Salle Street Station 202 

Dearborn Station 129 

Grand Central Station 40 

Total 1,485 

Museums in Chicago 

Chicago Academy of Sciences. 
Field Columbian Museum. 
Municipal Museum of Chicago. 

Fountains in Chicago 

The chief public fountains in the city are the Drake, 
on La Salle Street, west of the City Hall ; the Drexel, on 
Drexel Boulevard, near Fifty-first Street ; the Electric, in 
Lincoln Park ; and the Rosenberg, at the south end of 
Grant Park. 

211 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Lighthouses 

There are three lighthouses for Chicago harbor, — 
the Gross Point Lighthouse, at Evanston; the North 
Pier Lighthouse; and the Calumet Lighthouse. 

Other Interesting Facts 

Chicago has 67 asylums, 42 cemeteries, 1,125 churches 
and missions, 36 convents and monasteries, 35 dispen- 
saries, 65 hospitals, 2 infirmaries, 36 libraries, 34 medi- 
cal, dental, pharmaceutical, and veterinary colleges, 21 
kindergartens besides those connected with the public 
schools, 31 consuls and consulates representing foreign 
countries, 25 first-class hotels, 10 daily newspaper-oflfices, 
15 national banks, 38 state banks, 12 business exchanges, 
10 ocean-steamship offices, 15 lake-steamer passenger 
lines, 8 express companies doing local and foreign busi- 
ness, 31 university and college alumni associations. 

The deposits of the national banks, November 9, 
1905, were $315,003,665 ; of the state banks, Novem 
ber 10, 1905, $340,666,106. 

About 600 publications emanate from Chicago, in- 
cluding 33 newspapers, printed in twelve different lan- 
guages, 46 religious periodicals, 35 scientific journals, 
and 32 literary papers and magazines. 

Government Offices 

The offices of the United States government in Chi- 
cago are nearly all located in the Federal Building. 

212 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 

United States Post-office 
Civil Service Examiners, Seventh District. 
Railway Mail Service. 
Inspectors ' Department. 

Department of Agriculture 
Dairy Inspection, 152 Lake Street. 
Weather Bureau. 

Department of Comvierce and Labor 
Bureau of Labor. 
Bureau of Census. 
Bureau of Immigration. 
Chinese Bureau. 
Inspectors of Steam-vessels. 
Life-saving Service. 
Lighthouse Department. 

Department of Justice 

Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, — 
Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. 
Circuit Courts. 
District Courts. 
District Attorney. 
Marshal. 

Department of the Interior 

Geological Survey. 
Reclamation Service. 

213 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Pension Agency 

Navy Department 

Hydrographic Office. 
Recruiting Station. 

Treasury Department 
Assistant Treasurer, United States Sub-Treasury. 
Custom-house. 
Internal Revenue. 
Marine Hospital. 
Secret Service. 
Special Agents of the United States Treasury. 

War Department 
Army Headquarters, Department of the Lakes. 
Purchasing Commissary. 
Corps of Engineers, Northwest Division. 
River and Harbor Work. 
Recruiting-offices. 

State Offices in Chicago 

Board of Factory Inspectors of Illinois, 188 Madison 
Street. 

Board of Fire Underwriters, First National Bank 
Building. 

Board of Food Commissioners, 315 Dearborn Street. 

Grain-inspectors for Chicago, 218 La Salle Street. 

Board of Health. Meets quarterly, — April, July, and 

214 



SOME OF THE LEADING FEATURES 



October, in Chicago, at office of one of its members; 
January meeting in Springfield. 

Live-stock Commissioners, Exchange Building, Stock- 
yards. 

Board of Pharmacy, 144 Thirty-ninth Street. 

Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners, 218 La- 
Salle Street. 

Board of Dental Examiners, 67 Wabash Avenue. 

Board of Examiners of iVrchitects, Chamber of Com- 
merce Building. 

Illinois National Guard 

First Brigade, 165 Michigan Avenue. 

Third Brigade 90 La Salle Street. 

First Regiment Infantry, 1542 Michigan Avenue, 

Second Regiment Infantry, Washington Boulevard, 
northeast corner of South Curtis Street. 

Seventh Regiment Infantry, Sixteenth Street, corner 
of Dearborn Street. 

Eighth Regiment Infantry, 414 Thirty-seventh Street. 

Signal Corps, Washington Boulevard, northeast cor- 
er of South Curtis Street. 

General Inspector of Rifle Practice, 90 La Salle Street. 

First Regiment Cavalry, 527 North Clark Street. 

Hussar Squadron. 

Chicago Zouaves, Sixteenth Street, southeast -corner 
of Dearborn Street. 

215 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Illinois Zouaves, 40 Clark Street 

Illinois Naval Reserves, 20 Michigan Avenue. 

Independent Military Organizations 

Battery D, 327 Lincoln Avenue. 
Chicago Continental Guard, 164 La Salle Street. 
Clan-na-Gael Guards (First Regiment) Newberry 
Avenue, southeast corner of West Twelfth Street. 
Military Order of Foreign Wars (Illinois Command- 

ery). 

Military Order of the Loyal Legion (Illinois Com- 

mandery), 59 Clark Street. 

Order of the Old Guard, 155 Washington Street. 



•416 



CHIEF EVENTS IN THE HISTORY 
OF CHICAGO 

1804. The Building of Fort Dearborn. 

1812. The Fort Dearborn massacre. 

1830. The definite location of Chicago by plat. 

1833. Incorporated as a town. 

1834. The great real-estate boom. 

1836. Beginning of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. 

1837. Chartered as a city. 
1837. Financial panic. 
1871. The great fire. 
1873. Great financial panic. 
1886. The Anarchist Riots. 

1892. New University of Chicago opened. 

1893. World's Columbian Exposition. 

1894. Great railroad strike. 
1900. Drainage Canal opened. 



217 



COOK COUNTY 

Divisions of the County 

There are thirty-three towns in Cook County, seven 
of which are in the city of Chicago, also a part of the 
eighth. Those outside the city are Barrington, Palatine, 
Wheeling, Northfield, New Trier, Evanston, Niles, 
Maine, Elk Grove, Shaumburg, Hanover, Norwood 
Park, Leyden, Proviso, Riverside, Cicero, Lyons, Le- 
mont, Palos, Thornton, Bremen, Orland, Rich, Bloom, 
and the north part of Calumet. Those within the city 
are Lake View, Jefferson, North Town, West Town, 
South Town, Lake, Hyde Park, and part of Calumet. 

The population of the country towns is about 150,- 
000; of the city, about 2,250,000. 

While Chicago covers only about one fourth the area 
of the county, its population is fifteen times greater 
that of all the country towns combined. 

The Desplaines River rises in Wisconsin, flows south- 
ward through Lake County, and the towns of Wheel- A 
ing, Maine, Leyden, Proviso, Riverside, Lyons, Palos, 
and Lemont, and empties into the Illinois River, about 
fifteen miles south of Joliet. 

The North Branch of the Chicago River forms in the 
town of Northfield and joins the main river south of 
Kinzie Street and east of Canal Street. 

318 



COOK COUNTY 



The South Branch begins at this junction and extends 
south and west to the Desplaines, in the town of Lyons. 
Lake Calumet is in the town of Hyde Park. It is 
connected with Lake Michigan by the Calumet River. 

The County Court-house 

The present building was erected in 1877, at a cost 
of $2,248,307, and furnished at an expense of $100,000. 




THE NEW COURT-HOUSE 



It was at that time considered to be one of the best and 
most durable of public buildings, but for several years 
past it has been a menace to the health of its occupants 
and the lives of those who pass near it on the sidewalk. 



219 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

It is dark and damp within, and the soft sandstone 
copings have been gradually falling away, endangering 
the lives of passers-by, although the walls of the build- 
ing are from four to eight feet thick, and the partitions 
are of solid brick four feet in thickness. 

At the election in April, 1905, the county voted 
in favor of a bond issue of $5,000,000 for the construc- 
tion of a new building, and t'i3 old building has already 
been deserted and workmen are at work tearing it down. 



230 



GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 

County Commissioners. — The general government 
of the county is under the control of a Board of Com- 
missioners, fifteen in number, with ofiices at 218 La 
Salle Street. The President of this Board has the power 
of vetoing appropriations, and his veto rules, unless 
overcome by the votes of twelve members of the Board. 
He appoints the County Attorney, the Superintendent 
of Public Service, the heads of certain county institu- 
tions, and three County Civil Service Commissioners 
to direct the examinations of candidates for other 
county offices. His salary is $5,400 ; that of the other 
members of the Board is $3,600 each. The Clerk of 
the County Board receives a salary of $3,600. 

The Sheriff, County Clerk, County Treasurer, State's 
Attorney, Coroner, Recorder of Deeds, and Surveyor 
are elected by the people, also five Assessors, and a Board 
of Review of three members. 

One County Court Judge, one Probate Court Judge, 
fourteen Circuit Court judges, and twelve Superior 
Court judges, some of whom are limited in their duties 
to the Criminal Court, are also elected by popular 
vote. 

Owing to the fact that the city of Chicago contains 
more than fifteen times as many people as all the towns 

221 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

of the county outside of Chicago, the city is given ten of 
the fifteen County Commissioners. 

The Commissioners meet weekly to direct the govern- 
ment of the county and its pubhc institutions. 

This Board has the right to levy taxes not exceeding 
seventy-five cents on the $100, for county purposes. 

The County Clerk is Secretary of the Board of Com- 
missioners, and by virtue of his oflSce has control of the 
financial affairs of the county as County Comptroller. 
He has the custody of all deeds, mortgages, contracts, 
bonds, notes, etc., belonging to the county. He is book- 
keeper and paymaster for the county, and reports 
annually the expenses of all departments of the county 
organization, and submits estimates for the coming year. 
His salary is $2,000. 

It is the County Clerk who keeps the records of taxes 
paid and unpaid within the county. Taxes become 
due about December 21st of each year. Each town 
collector endeavors to collect them before the first day 
of the following March. On the lOtli of March the 
town collectors turn over their books to the County 
Treasurer, showing what taxes have not been paid. 
Until May 1st these delinquent taxes may be paid to 
the County Treasurer. 

Penalty for Non-payment of Taxes. — If the taxes are 
not paid by May 1st a penalty of one per cent a month 
is imposed, besides ''costs" of six to eighteen cents per 
lot. If not paid by the second Monday in July, the 

223 



11 



GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 

County Treasurer makes application for judgment, and 
if the taxes still remain unpaid by the first or second 
Monday in August, the property is offered for sale at 
the price of the tax that is due. 

How Property Sold for Taxes may be Redeemed. — 
Property sold for taxes may be redeemed within two 
years by paying the County Clerk the amount of tax 
and twenty-five per cent additional if within six 
months, fifty per cent additional if between six and 
twelve months, seventy-five per cent additional if be- 
tween twelve and eighteen months, one hundred per 
cent additional if between eighteen months and two 
years, also any other taxes that have accrued in the 
mean time, with interest at ten per cent added from 
the time taxes were due. 

If the owner does not pay the taxes and costs as above 
within two years, the purchaser is given a tax title to the 
property, and may then settle with the ow^ner as he 
pleases. 

Many people forget or are unable to pay their taxes 
when they become due, especially on suburban lots, and 
from five hundred to one thousand pieces of property 
are redeemed each month. In 1904 the tax sales num- 
bered more than 41,000. 

Marriage License. — Before a marriage ceremony 
can be legally performed, a license must be obtained 
from the County Clerk. The law requires that the man 
shall be at least eighteen years old and the woman six- 

333 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

teen years, and if the man is less than twenty-one and 
the woman less than eighteen years of age, they must 
have the written consent of parents or guardians. The 
marriage license fee is $1.50. 

The Recorder of Deeds. — In the Recorder's office 
a copy is kept in full of deeds, mortgages, and various 
legal papers which the law requires shall be recorded in 
order to make them valid. 

The Recorder's salary is $6,000. 

The Recorder employs an attorney to act as Regis- 
trar and examine titles to real estate when conveyed un- 
der the Torrens system. The salary of this attorney is 
$4,000. 

The Recorder's office is at 160 Adams Street 

The County Treasurer. — It is the duty of the Treas- 
urer to hold and pay out the funds of the county, and act 
as county collector. His salary is $4,000, and his office 
is at 160 Adams Street. 

The Coroner. — The chief duty of the Coroner is to 
hold inquests on the deaths of persons who have died 
under suspicious circumstances. He is assisted by a 
jury of six men. The Coroner takes charge of the 
bodies of all such persons, and places them in the 
County Morgue, at the corner of Wood and Polk 
streets, until identified and removed by friends or rela- 
tives. If not so identified, they are buried at the ex- 
pense of the county, in the Potter's Field, or turned 
over to a medical college. If any person is implicated 

334 



il 



GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 

by the inquest as in any way responsible for the death 
of the deceased, the Coroner causes his arrest, if not 
ah'eady in custody. 

The number of inquests held by the Coroner in 1904 
was 3,821, of which number, 575 were for deaths in the 
burning of the Iroquois Theater. 

The Coroner's salary is $5,000. His office is at the 
Criminal Court Building. 

The Sheriff. — The Sheriff is the most important 
of the executive officers of the county. He is elected 
for a term of four years. It is his duty to execute the 
orders of the county courts, to prevent the commis- 
sion of crime, and maintain peace and good order 
within the county. He may arrest offenders on sight. 
He is the keeper of the jail, and has the custody of 
prisoners. His office is at the Fort Dearborn Building. 
His salary is $6,000. 

The State 's Attorney, on behalf of the people, prose- 
cutes all violators of the law, and acts as legal adviser 
for all county officers and justices of the peace. His 
salary is $5,940. His office is at the Criminal Court 
Building. 

The County Superintendent of Schools examines teach- 
ers, and issues certificates to such as pass the required 
examinations. He also visits the schools of the county, 
outside of Chicago, at least once each year, and advises 
the school boards with reference to their schools. His 
salary is $7,000. His office is at 155 La Salle Street. 

225 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Jury Commissioners 

There are three Jury Commissioners for the county, 
whose duty it is, every four years, to prepare a list 
of all electors in the county, between twenty-one and 
and sixty-five years of age. Such list is known as the 
jury-list. The names are entered in a book, or books, 
kept for that purpose, with the age, occupation, resi- 
dence, whether or not a householder, whether residing 
with his family or not, and whether or not a free- 
holder. This list may be revised annually. 

Such persons are notified by mail that their names 
have been included in the list of persons subject to 
be drawn for jury service, and are requested to report 
within five days whether or not they are eligible for 
jury duty. 

The Commissioners select, from time to time, from 
the jury-list the requisite number of names, and write 
each name on a separate ticket, with the age, place 
of residence, and occupation, and place the whole 
number of tickets in a box known as the jury-box. 

The law requires the Commissioners to have not 
less than fifteen thousand names at all times in the 
jury-box. 

For the grand jury, a separate list of names is se- 
lected in the same way and placed in a separate box, 
known as the grand-jury box. In this box there must 
be at all times not less than one thousand names. 

When a jury is to be drawn from either box, one 

336 



GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 

or more of the judges of the court where a jury is re- 
quired certifies to the clerk of the court the number 
of jurors required and the clerk of the court goes to 
the office of the Jury Commissioners, and, in the 
presence of at least two of the Commissioners and 
their clerk, draws at random from the jury-box, after 
it has been well shaken, the necessary number of 
names, and certifies the same to the Sheriff, who sum- 
mons the persons according to law. 

Jurors selected must, as far as may be, reside in 
different parts of the county and be of different oc- 
cupations. 

At the expiration of the term of court the names 
of those who have served as jurors are checked off 
from the jury-list, and must not be again placed in 
either jury-box until all other names have served or 
been found disqualified or exempt, but the names of 
those who have been excused and who possess the qualifi- 
cations for jury service are again placed in the jury-box. 

The salary of each Commissioner is $1,500. Their 
office is at the Criminal Court Building. 

Persons Eligible for Jury Service: — 1. Citizens of 
the county, of the age of twenty-one years and up- 
wards, or under sixty-five years. 2. In the possession 
of their natural faculties, and not infirm or decrepit. 
3. Free from all legal exceptions, of fair character, of 
approved integrity, of sound judgment, well informed, 
and who understand the English language. 

237 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Classes of Persons Exempt: — Practising attorneys, 
practising physicians, officiating clergymen, profes- 
sors and teachers in colleges and schools during the 
terms of school, members of state militia, members of 
police department, members of fire department, United 
States government officials, state, county, and city 
officials, judges and clerks of election, registered and 
assistant pharmacists, embalmers, undertakers, and 
funeral directors actively engaged in their business, 
all persons employed in the editorial or mechanical 
departments of newspapers, and persons sixty-five years 
of age or over. 

Each juror is paid two dollars a day for each day's 
service, also ten cents a mile for going to and returning 
from the court-house, once each way. 

The Grand Jury. — The purpose of the Grand Jury 
is to enable a plaintiff to lay his complaint before a 
body of intelligent men for their decision as to whether 
or not he has just cause for prosecution. Such com- 
plaints are brought before the Grand Jury by the 
State's Attorney in the form of a bill of indictment. 
The usual way is for the plaintiff to swear out a 
warrant before a justice of the peace, who will refer 
the matter to the State's Attorney if he thinks the 
evidence justifies such action. 

A full panel of the Grand Jury consists of twenty- 
three persons, at least sixteen of whom must be pres- 



ses 



GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 

ent when a true bill is found, and twelve of them must 
agree to the finding. 

The foreman of the Grand Jury is appointed by the 
court. 

When any twelve or more of the Grand Jury unite 
in deciding that a bill of indictment has been support- 
ed by the evidence offered, the foreman indorses on 
the bill, ''A true bill," and when they do not find a 
bill to be supported by sufficient evidence, he indorses 
on it, " Not a true bill." He then signs his name 
as foreman below the indorsement, and in case of a 
true bill he adds the names of the witnesses upon 
whose evidence the bill was found to be true, and also 
the name of the prosecutor, unless the true bill is 
found on the information and knowledge of two or 
more of the Grand Jury, or some public officer in the 
necessary discharge of his duty, in which case no pros- 
ecutor is required, but it must be stated at the end of 
the indictment how the same is found. 

The name of the prosecutor is required in order to 
prevent a malicious prosecution, for if the defendant, 
on trial, is found not guilty, and the petit jurors have 
found that the prosecutor had acted maliciously in 
the premises, the court is required to enter judgment 
for costs against the prosecutor, including a fee of five 
dollars to the State's Attorney. 

When a true bill is found, the defendant is admitted 
to bail if the offense is bailable, and the clerk of the 

339 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

court in which the indictment is found immediately 
issues an order to the Sheriff for the arrest of each per- 
son indicted. 

A Grand Jury considers only criminal cases, while 
a petit jury considers both civil and criminal cases. 

The County Surveyor surveys any piece of land in 
the county when asked to do so by an officer or private 
citizen. He is paid in fees. His office is at 190 Clark 
Street. 

The County Attorney is the legal adviser of the 
County Board, and has charge of all its suits for or 
against the county. His salary is $4,200. Office at 
218 La Salle Street. 

The Superintendent of Public Service purchases sup- 
plies for the county institutions, for which he secures 
bids, also for printing, and for the construction and 
repair of buildings. His salary is $4,500. Office at 
218 La Salle Street. 

The Civil Service Commission comprises three men 
whose duty it is to examine applicants for positions in 
the county service. The salary of each is $1,500. 
Their office is at 218 La Salle Street. 

The Board of Assessors, of five members, determines 
the taxes to be paid on real and personal property, 
being guided by the statutes as to the rate of taxation. 
The salary of each member is $5,000. The office of 
the Board is at 80 Fifth Avenue. 

The Board of Review, three members, revises and 

230 



GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 



corrects the amounts fixed by the Assessors, according 
to their judgment, after hearing and considering the 
complaints of taxpayers. Their decision is final. 
The salary of each is $7,000. Their ofiice is at 76 
Fifth Avenue. 

The County Architect draws designs for new build- 
ings and alterations in old ones, when requested by 
the County Board. He is paid in fees. His ofiice is 
at 163 Randolph Street. 

Courts in Cook County 

First District Appellate Court. — Six judges. Sev- 
enth floor, Ashland Block. Hears appeals from all 
the city and county courts, except criminal cases and 
those affecting a franchise or freehold, or the validity 
of a statute. The decision of the Court is final if the 
amount involved is less than $1,000. 

Superior Court. — Eleven judges. Temporarily at 
the Fort Dearborn Building. Has concurrent juris- 
diction with the Circuit Court in all cases. 

Circuit Court. — Fourteen judges. Temporarily at 
Fort Dearborn Building. 

County Court. — Temporarily at 174 Adams Street. 
Besides its regular court duties, the County Court has 
the control of all elections in Chicago. This Court 
hears appeals from justices of the peace and police 
magistrates. It has original jurisdiction in the mat- 
ters of taxes and assessments. 

331 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The Criminal Court. — Four judges. At the Crimi- 
nal Court Building, Michigan Street and Dearborn 
Avenue. 

The Probate Court is located at the Criminal Court 
Building. It has charge of inheritance cases and others 
of a kindred character. 

There are in the county two hundred and fifty-eight 
constables, one hundred and thirty-five justices of the 
peace, and forty-three police magistrates. 

Juvenile Court. — The Juvenile Court is designed to 
care for dependent, neglected, and delinquent children. 
It is under the jurisdiction of the Circuit and County 
courts. The law applies to boys under seventeen and 
girls under eighteen years of age. The aim of the 
law is to provide for the classes named, as nearly as 
may be, in homes or charitable institutions, such care 
as should be given by parents. 

From the report of the Cook County Juvenile Court 
for 1904 it appears that 1,545 delinquent boys were 
brought before the Court during the year, 660 of whom 
had previously been in the Court, either as delinquents 
or dependents. 1,628 dependent children were brought 
before the Court. 

Fifty-one probation officers were engaged in carry- 
ing out the purpose of the Court. 

The number of delinquent girls was 354 ; depend- 
ent boys, 898 ; dependent girls, 730 ; truants, 232. 

The clerk of the County Court receives a salary of 

332 



GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 

$3,000 ; of the Circuit Court, $5,000 ; of the Superior 
Court, $5,000; of the Probate Court, $5,000; of the 
Criminal Court, $5,000. 

Fourteen judges of the Circuit Court receive, each, 
$6,500 ; two judges of the Superior Court, $6,500 each ; 
ten judges of the Superior Court, $3,500 each; one 
judge of the County Court, $10,000; one judge of the 
Probate Court, $10,000. 

All judges in Cook County courts of record elected 
in 1903 or later receive salaries of $10,000. 

The records show that the average cost to the county 
to try a criminal case is $75. 

Cook County Charity Work 

One of the duties of the Cook County Board of 
Commissioners is to care for the poor people of the 
county. This is done through the following institu- 
tions : 

The Outdoor Relief Department. 

The Cook County Hospital. 

The Institutions at Dunning. 

The heads of all departments are appointed by the 
President of the Board. Other paid employees are 
under the civil service law. 

Department of Outdoor Relief 

This Department aims to give temporary aid to the 
poor in their places of residence. The work is in the 

233 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

charge of the County Agent, at 168 South Clinton 
Street, with a branch office at 6140 Wentworth Ave- 
nue. 

It is the duty of this Department to locate cases of 
want and relieve them by giving monthly allowances 
of food or fuel, or both. Children are also supplied 
with shoes, if necessary, to enable them to attend 
school. In order to receive aid from the County Agent, 
the applicant must have resided in Cook County at 
least six months. 

This Department also assists in the proper dispo- 
sition of dependent children, the feeble-minded, the 
insane, the blind, and deaf mutes. It also delivers 
rations and fuel to needy war veterans and their 
families. 

From seven to seventeen visitors are employed the 
year round, also nine physicians. These visit the sick 
poor and give them such care as they need. One of 
these doctors is at the County Agent's office each day 
from 12 to 2 to give free dispensary service. 

Provisions and coal were given to 8,460 families in 
1904. 

The salary of the County Agent is $2,500. 

Cook County Hospital 

The Cook County Hospital gives temporary medical 
and surgical care to the sick and injured poor. 

The attending staff comprises seventy-eight skilled 

234 



! GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 

practitioners, who serve subject to call, day and night, 
without pay. 

The County Physician resides at the Detention Hos- 
pital, and besides attending patients in that institu- 
tion, gives service also to the prisoners confined in 
the County Jail. His salary is $2,000. 

The house staff, or internes, is made up of young 
doctors recently graduated from recognized licensed 
medical colleges in Cook County. There are forty-eight 
internes, selected by an examination, who serve for six 
months, or eighteen months for the full period, with- 
out compensation, except that they are given their 
board and lodging at the Hospital. 
^ There are one hundred and fifty-seven nurses at 
the Hospital, supplied by contract from the Illinois 
Training-school for Nurses, which is maintained in 
connection with the Hospital. 

In connection with the Hospital is also the Deten- 
tion Hospital, where persons thought to be insane are 
kept till it is decided whether they shall be set free or 
sent to an asylum. 

All patients are admitted free, and no charge is made 
for physicians or medicines. 

The conditions of admission are that the patient 
shall be without money, sick, and in need of hospital 
care. No one is admitted who is sick from smallpox, 
consumption, alcoholism, or any chronic or incurable 
disease. 

335 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

The capacity of the Hospital at the present time is 
1,270 beds. 

In 1904, 22,301 cases were treated. 

The Hospital is located on the West Side, between 
Harrison, Polk, Lincoln, and Wood streets. 

It was first established in 1866. 

The Warden of the Hospital receives a salary of 
$3,240. 

The Cook County Hospital for Children, which was 
formally opened May 23, 1905, is the first public hos- 
pital for children to be erected in the West. It has 
twenty wards, and accommodates one hundred and 
fifty beds. Its cost was about $80,000. Being located 
on the County Hospital grounds, it has fifty-seven 
doctors on call, and twelve nurses. 

The Institutions at Dunning 

Dunning is about ten miles northwest from the 
Court-house, just outside the city limits. The begin- 
ning of these institutions was in 1851. The total 
present investment in land and buildings is about 
$1,500,000, not including repairs and alterations. 

The various institutions are in charge of a General 
Superintendent. They comprise the Infirmary, form- 
erly called the Poor-house, the Hospital for Consump- 
tives, the Hospital for the Insane, and the Farm. The 
total number of persons under the charge of the 
General Superintendent is more than 3,200. Of this 

236 



GOVERNMENT OF COOK COUNTY 

number 1,766 are insane patients, 1,058 destitute 
poor, 161 consumptives, and the remainder employees 
and attendants. 

The General Superintendent's salary is $3,240. 

During 1904 Cook County expended for charity 
more than $945,000, besides about $380,436 for build- 
ings, and about $120,000 for repairs. To these 
amounts should be added the charitable work done 
in the county by private institutions, where the average 
cost for treatment and care is about $30 a week. 

United States Courts 

The United States Circuit Court is in the Monadnock 
Building. There are three judges, each paid a salary 
of $6,000. The Clerk's salary is $3,000. 

The United States District Court is also in the Mo- 
nadnock Building. The Judge's salary is $5,000; the 
Clerk's, $3,000., 



237 



SOME INTERESTING FACTS AND 

FIGURES ABOUT CHICAGO 

OF TO-DAY 

Area in square miles, 190.6. 

Population, estimated, 2,250,000. 

Expenditures for city government, 1904, $22,806,- 
949.53. 

Total indebtedness of the city, December 31, 1904, 
$18,323,029.73. 

Average number of men employed by city, 17,029. 

Salaries and wages paid by city, 1904, $16,270,- 
007.24. 

Number of aldermen in City Council, 70. 

Number of school buildings owned by the city, 308. 

Number of schoolrooms rented by the city, 1904, 
5,688. 

Amount paid for rented rooms, 1904, $35,699.96. 

Amount expended for maintenance of public schools, 
1903-04, $9,399,727.57. 

Number of pupils enrolled, 1904-05, 282,346. 

Total seating capacity of schools, 245,563. 

Number of night schools, 32. 

Number of pupils enrolled in night schools, 17,- 
117. 

338 



INTERESTING FACTS AND FIGURES 



Average daily attendance of pupils in elementary 
schools, 220,348. 

Average daily attendance of pupils in high schools, 
9,406. 

Value of public school buildings, lots, and furniture, 
$29,860,307. 

Number of teachers in public schools, 5,695. 

Number of high schools, 14. 

Number of pupils enrolled in high schools, 12,395. 

Total expenses of high schools, 1904-05, $578,528.98. 

Paid for salaries of teachers in all the public schools, 
$5,284,664.12. 

Receipts from cards and stamps at Chicago Post- 
office, 1904, $11,648,410.36. 

Amount received and disbursed in money-orders, 
$144,274,681.15. 

Number of pieces of mail handled, 3,601,844,- 
300. 

Number of clerks employed in the Chicago Post- 
office, 2,300. 

Number of carriers employed in the Chicago Post- 
office, 1,596. 

Number of steam fire-engines in Chicago, 106. 

Number of hand fire-engines, 2. 

Number of hook-and-ladder trucks, 34. 

Number of chemical fire-engines, 19. 

Number of chemical and hose-carriages combined, 6. 

Number of volunteer fire companies, 3. 

239 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Number of fire-boats on the Chicago and Calumet 
rivers, 5. 

Number of men employed in the Fire Department, 
1,351. 

Number of horses used by the Fire Department, 512. 

Number of hose- wagons and carriages, 91. 

Number of fires in 1904, 6,633. 

Number of fire-hydrants, 20,349. 

Number of fire-alarm boxes, 1,689. 

Number of persons using free public baths, 1904, 
589,796. 

Number of dead animals removed, 1904, 18,887. 

Number of men on the police force, July 17, 1905, 
2,452. 

Number of police-stations, 44. 

Number of police patrol-boxes, 1,031. 

Number of horses in use by the Police Department, 
249. 

Number of patrol-wagons, 47. 

Number of ambulances, 9. 

Number of arrests made, 1904, 66,713. 

Value of stolen property recovered by the police, 1904, 
$436,538.57. 

Number of free lodgings given at Municipal Lodg- 
ing-house, 1904, 18,842. 

Number of meals served, 37,744. 

Average number of inmates at the House of Cor- 
rection, 1,723. 

240 



INTERESTING FACTS AND FIGURES 



Number of dogs received at the dog-pound, 15,560. 

Bushels of grain received, 1904, 225,719,957. 

Barrels of flour received, 1904, 8,839,220. 

Number of live hogs received, 1904, 7,786,541. 

Number of dressed hogs received, 1904, 20,024. 

Number of dressed hogs shipped, 1904, 120,845. 

Number of cattle received, 1904, 3,259,185. 

Number of sheep received, 1904, 4,504,630. 

Number of horses received, 1904, 105,949. 

Number of pounds of other hog products received, 
1904, 200,221,000. 

Number of pounds of other meats shipped, 1904, 
652,564,606. 

Number of pounds of dressed beef received, 1904, 
208,204,901. 

Number of pounds of lard received, 1904, 54,549,592. 

Number of pounds of lard shipped, 1904, 336,789,- 
963. 

Number of barrels of pork received, 1904, 10,452. 

Number of barrels of pork shipped, 1904, 113,850. 

Number of tons of anthracite and bituminous coal 
received, 1904, 1,024,853. 

Number of feet of lumber received, 1904, 1,670,272. 

Number of feet of lumber shipped, 1904, 821,008. 

Number of licensed saloons, 7,928. 

Number of buildings erected, 1904, 7,151. 

Estimated cost of buildings erected in 1904, $44,- 
602,340. 

241 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Longest street in Chicago (22 miles), Western Ave- 
nue. 

Next longest street in Chicago (21^ miles), Halsted 
Street. 

Number of miles of streets, 2,806. 

Number of miles of alleys, 1,378. 

Number of miles of paved streets, 1,316. 

Number of miles of paved alleys, 122. 

Amount expended for street cleaning and repairs, 
1904, $274,531.70. 

Amount expended for the collection and disposal 
of garbage, $640,602.50. 

Number of miles of sewers, 1,601. 

Loads of garbage removed from alleys, 1904, 289,695. 

Loads of snow removed from the streets, 1904, 
45,676. 

Expense of removing snow, $74,284.27 

Number of miles of water mains and pipes, 1,978. 

Number of miles of water-tunnels, 24. 

Number of miles of land-tunnels, 14. 

Total cost of the present tunnel system, $10,000,000. 

Total number of gallons of water pumped, 1904, 
146,310,498,353. 

Total capacity, in gallons, per day, of all pumping- 
stations, 687,100,000. 

Number of pumping-stations, 11. 

Number of cribs, or intakes, in the lake, 5. 

Number of traffic-tunnels under the Chicago River, 3. 

343 



INTERESTING FACTS AND FIGURES 

Gross revenue from water service, 1904, $4,000,- 
462.33. 

Total cost to December 31, 1904, of city's water- 
supply system, including original purchase price, 
$36,000,000. 

Number of bridges controlled by the city, 64. 

Number of bridges over Chicago River, 59. 

Number of bridges over Calumet River, 4. 

Number of bridges over Illinois and Michigan Ca- 
nal, 1. 

Cost of operating and maintaining the bridges, 1904, 
$314,700. 

Number of viaduct systems over railroad tracks, 36. 

Number of street electric-lamps, 5,805. 

Number of street gas-lamps, 24,955. 

Number of street gasoline-lamps, 6,478. 

Cost per year for each electric-lamp, operated from 
municipal plant, $54.36. 

Cost per year for each gas-lamp with mantels, $2.40. 
(The cost of gas, about $20, is not included, as the city 
is paying nothing until the question of price is settled.) 

Cost per year for each gasoline lamp, $25.80. 

Number of miles of river frontage, 75. 

Number of vessels arriving, 1904, 6,631. 

Number of vessels departing, 1904, 6,273. 

Number of persons using free public baths, 1904, 

589,796. 

Number of railroad systems entering Chicago, 25. 

243 



CHICAGO: PAST AND PRESENT 

Miles of railway tracks elevated, December 31, 1904, 
425. 

Miles of railway tracks yet to be elevated, 335. 

Miles of main tracks to be elevated, 155.35. 

Number of subways to be constructed, 622. 

Total estimated cost of elevating tracks, $7,860,250. 

Number of street-car companies (mostly leased by 
two principal companies), 15. 

Number of miles of streets covered by tracks, 360. 

Number of passengers carried per day, 900,000. 

Number of miles of tracks, 1,265. 

Number of cable-cars in use, 1,074. 

Number of electric cars in use, 1,166. 

Number of horse-cars in use, 13. 

Number of persons injured by electric cars, 1904, 
1,536. 

Total resources of Chicago state and national banks, 
November 10, 1905, $752,664,110. 

Total deposits of Chicago state and national banks, 
November 10, 1905, $655,669,771. 



244 



INDEX 



Academy of Science Library, 153. 

Amusements, 121. 

Anarchist Riots, 33. 

Animals, Dead, 78. 

Animals, Cruelty to, 120. 

Appellate Court, 231. 

Architect, City, o^; County, 231. 

Architecture, Division of, 95. 

Art Commission, City, 53. 

Art Institute, 156. 

Attorney, City, 44. 

Attorney, County, 230. 

Attorney, Prosecuting, 44. 

Australian Ballot, 52. 

Automobile License, Bureau of, 108. 

Bacteriologist, 75. 

Baths, Public, 76. 

Bench Monuments, 98. 

Bill-posting, 121. 

Blasting, 122. 

Board of Assessors, 230. 

Board of Review, 230. 

Board of Trade, 188. 

Boiler-inspector, 79. 

Bread Must be Labeled, 122. 

Bridges and Viaducts, 92. 

Building Department, 72. 

Business Agent, 53. 

Business Manager of School Board, 112. 

Canal, Illinois and Michigan, 26. 

Candidates, Nomination of, 49. 

Carter H. Harrison Crib, 88. 

Cemeteries, 208. 

Charitable Organizations, 207. 

Charity Work, Cook County, 233. 

Charter, New City, 129. 

Chemist, 75. 

Chicago Bureau of Charities, 169. 

Chicago's Greatness, 202. 

Chicago Historical Society Library, 151. 

Chicago Law Institute Library, 155. 

Chicago Public School Art Society, 158. 

Chicago Relief and Aid Society, 168. 

Chicago River, 12. 

Chief Events in the History of Chicago, 

217. 
Circuit Court, 231. 



Citizen, 50. 

Civil Service Commission, City, 46; 

County, 230. 
Clearing House, 192. 
Clerk, City, 43; County, 222. 
Climate, 171. 
Coliseum, 159. 
Collector, City, 46. 
Colleges, 162. 
Columbian Exposition, 34. 
Commercial Interests, 188. 
Comparative Showing, 117. 
Comptroller, City, 45. 
Compulsory Education, 115. 
Cook County, 218, 221. 
Cook County Hospital, 234. 
Coroner, 224. 
Corporation Counsel, 43. 
Correction, House of, 69. 
Cottage Grove Avenue, 146. 
Council, City, 41. 
Counting Votes, 53. 
County Commissioners, 221. 
County Court, 231. 
County, Divisions of, 218. 
County Superintendent of Schools, 225. 
Court House, 219. 
Courts in Cook County, 231. 
Courts, New City, 119. 
Crib, Carter H. Harrison, 88. 
Crib, Four-mile, 87. 
Crib, Two-mile, 85. 
Criminal Court, 232. 
Cruelty to Animals, 120. 
Custodian's Office, 66. 
Dead Animals, 78. 
Dearborn Park, 144. 
Detective Bureau, 65. 
Directory, City, 163. 
Discovery, 14. 
Dogs, 123. 
Douglas Park, 144. 
Drainage, 27. 
Drainage Canal, 28. 
Dumps, City, 199. 
Education, Board of, 109. 
Election Commissioners, 48. 



245 



INDEX 



Electrical Inspection, Bureau of, 106. 


Inspection Department, 79. 


Electricity, 165. 


Institutions and Industries, 133. 


Electricity, Department of, 103. 


Institutions at Dunning, 236. 


Ellis Park, 145. 


Interesting Facts and Figures, 238. 


Engineer, City, 83. 


International Live-stock Exposition, 


Engineering, Bureau of, 83. 


180. 


Examining Engineers, 81. 


Jackson Park, 136. 


Executive Department, 42. 


Jefferson Park, 145. 


Exposition, Columbian, 34. 


John Crerar Library, 151. 


Fares for Hacks and Cabs, 124. 


Judical Department, 117. 


Federal Building, 194. 


Jury Commissioners, 226. 


Field Columbian Museum Library, 149. 


Jury Service, 227. 


Fire Alarm, 104. 


Justices of the Peace, 118. 


Fire Alarm Telegraph, Bureau of, 104. 


Juvenile Court, 232. 


Fire Department, 69. 


Kinzie, John, 14. 


Fire of 1871, 29. 


Languages of Chicago, 199. 


First Settlement, 14. 


LaSalle's Prophecy, 7. 


Fish, Inspector of, 76. 


Law Department, 43. 


Fort Dearborn, 16. 


Leading Features of Chicago, 198. 


Four-mile Crib, 87. 


Legal Fares for Hacks and Cabs, 124. 


Fountains, 211. 


Legislative Department, 40. 


Garfield Park, 144. 


Lewis Institute Library, 151. 


Garbage, Removal of, 99. 


Libraries, 147, 155. 


Gas, 167. 


Life Saving Stations, 174. 


Gas-inspector, 107. 


Lighthouses, 212. 


Gas-lighting and Repairs, Bureau of, 


Lincoln Park, 137, 146. 


107. 


Local Improvements, Board of, 102. 


General Government, 42. 


Lodging-house, Municipal, 67. 


Government, City, 38. 


Lumber Business, 188. 


Government Officers, 212. 


Maps and Plats, Bureau of, 101. 


Grades, Street, 98. 


Market, City, 54. 


Grand Jury, 228. 


Marquette Park, 144. 


Grant Park, 144. 


Marriage License, 223. 


Growth of Chicago, 19, 23, 199. 


Marsh, 10. 


Hammond Library, 152. 


Massacre, Fort Dearborn, 16. 


Harbor-master, 94. 


Mayor, 40, 43. 


Harbors, 92. 


Meat-inspectors, 76. 


Health Department, 74. 


Monuments in Lincoln Park, 138. 


High Buildings, 182. 


Monuments, Other, 143. 


House-drain Division, 97. 


Municipal Art League, 158. 


House of Correction, 69. 


Municipal Lighting, Bureau of, 104. 


Humboldt Park, 144. 


Municipal Playgrounds, 56. 


Ice-inspectors, 76. 


Museums, 211. 


Identification, Bureau of, 66. 


Name of Chicago, 7. 


Illinois, 17. 


Newberry Library, 148. 


Illinois and Michigan Canal, 26. 


New City Charter, 129. 


Illinois Humane Society, 169. 


New City Courts, 119. 


Illinois National Guard, 215. 


Newsboys, 164. 


Indenendent Military Organizations, 


Nomination of Candidates, 49. 


216. 


Non-partisan Political Associations. 206. 


Indians, 21. 


Oil-inspector, 79. 



246 



INDEX 



One Day's Events, 200. 
Otlier Interesting Facts, 212. 
Outdoor Relief 233. 
Parks, 133. 

Pavements, Kinds of 102. 
Pawn-shops, 65 
Pa>anaster City, 4G. 
Permits, 73. 
Physician, City, 75. 
Playgrounds, Municipal, 56. 
Police Department, 59. 
Police jMagistrates, 117. 
Police Telegraph, Bureau of, 105. 
Post-office, 196. 
Pounds and Poundmasters, 80. 
Printing Office, Police, 66. 
Probate Court, 232. 

Property Sold for Taxes, How Re- 
deemed, 223. 
Public Library, 147. 
Public Safetv, 59. 
Public AYorks, 82. 
Pullman Public Library, 152. 
Railroad Depots, 210. " 
Railroad, First, 24. 
Recorder of Deeds, 224. 
Records, Bureau of, 67. 
Registration, 52. 
Riots, Anarchist, 33. 
Riots, Railroad, 35. 
River Tunnels, 161. 
Roman Catholic Statistics, 198. 
Rules of the Road, 100. 
Ryerson Library, 153. 
Saint Ignatius College Library, 153. 
School Census, 116. 
School Superintendents, 110. 
Sealer, City, 79. 
Seminaries, 162. 
Sewers, Bureau of, 97, 102. 
Sheriff, 225. 
Shipbuilding, 182. 
Shipping Interests, 190. 
Sidewalks, 103. 
Sidewalks, Bureau of, 102. 
Signal Service, 171. 
Snow, Removal of, 100. 
Social Settlements, 207. 
Special Assessments, Bureau of, 102. 
Special Park Commission, 55, 146. 



State Offices, 225. 

States' Attorney, 225. 

Statistics, Bureau of, 58. 

Street Cleaning, 100. 

Street Railways, 159. 

Streets and Alleys, Bureau of, 102. 

Streets, Bureau of, 99. 

Superintendent of Public Service, 230. 

Superior Court, 231. 

Supplies, Department of, 5ti. 

Surveyor, County, 230. 

Tabular View of City Government, 

126. 
Taxation, 130. 

Taxes, Penalty for Non-payment, 222. 
Teachers, Salaries of, 112. 
Telephones, 166. 
Theatres, 170. 
Theatre Tickets, 121. 
Time-ball, 184. 
Topograph}', 9. 
Track Elevation, 58. 
Treasurer, City, 46. 
Treasurer, County, 224. 
Treaty with Indians, 21. 
Tunnel, The, 185. 
Two mile Crib, 85. 
Union Park, 145. 
Union Stock -yards, 178. 
United States Courts, 237. 
Universities, 162. 

Universitv of Chicago Library, 150. 
Unlawfuf Things, 123. 
Vaccination, 77. 
Various City Ordinances, 120. 
Vehicle-inspection, 68. 
Vernon Park, 146. 
Voting, 50. 51. 
Washington Park. 144. 
Washington Scjuare, 145. 
Watches, Stolen, 65. 
Water, Bureau of, 95, 102. 
Water-pipe Extension, 90. 
Water Supply, 83. 
Weather I3ureau, 170, 
Western Society of Engineers Library, 

155. 
Wicker Park, 146. 
Wolf Hunt, 22. 
Women, 51. 



247 



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